‘No doubt in my mind Hydroxychloriquine is very effective’ against COVID-19: Palmer.
By Sky News
Billionaire Clive Palmer says the reason he bought 32 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to combat coronavirus is because if Australia was going to be severely hit by the virus he “didn’t want to see our nation destroyed in the longer term”.
Mr Palmer acquired in March 32.9 million doses of the anti-malarial drug for treating Australians “free of charge” according to Sky News host Alan Jones.
On April 2 Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announced the drug will be made available to doctors to prescribe patients of COVID-19 in hospitals if they choose to do so.
The drug has been is being trailled to determine its efficacy in treating COVID-19, but the results so far have been inconclusive.
Mr Palmer told Sky News he is “a person that had the means, capability, and contacts to get the drugs” which is why he funded the entire project, as well as donating $11 million to fund clinical trials of the drug on coronavirus patients.
Given the drug has a shelf life of three to four years, Mr Palmer said he thought Australia “needed to make sure that we could survive regardless of what happened, and that’s why I did it”.
“There’s no doubt in my mind hydroxychloroquin is very effective”.
