A US government scientist says he was ousted from his position after raising concerns that the Trump administration wanted to "flood" coronavirus hotspots with a malaria drug.
The former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has filed a complaint with the US Office of Special Counsel, a government agency responsible for whistleblower complaints.
Rick Bright alleges he was reassigned to a lesser role because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug favoured by US President Donald Trump.
Mr Bright also said the Trump administration rejected his warnings on COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
He said he "acted with urgency" to address the growing spread of COVID-19 after the World Health Organisation issued a warning in January.
But he encountered "resistance" from Department of Health and Human Services leadership, including the department's secretary Alex Azar, who "appeared intent on downplaying this catastrophic event".
Mr Bright alleges in the complaint that political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services had tried to promote hydroxychloroquine as a panacea.
The officials also demanded that New York and New Jersey be "flooded" with these drugs, which were imported from factories in Pakistan and India that had not been inspected by the US Food and Drug Administration, the complaint says.
But Mr Bright opposed broad use of the drug, arguing the scientific evidence wasn't there to back up its use in coronavirus patients.
He felt an urgent need to tell the public there wasn't enough scientific evidence to support using the drugs for COVID-19 patients, the complaint states.
Last month, the FDA warned doctors against prescribing the drug except in hospitals and research studies.
In an alert, regulators flagged reports of sometimes fatal heart side effects among coronavirus patients taking hydroxychloroquine or the related drug chloroquine.
The decades-old drugs, also prescribed for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, can cause a number of side effects, including heart rhythm problems, severely low blood pressure and muscle or nerve damage.
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