Mitch - Just pointing out what everybody already knows - the CDC's pandemic messaging and established policy implementation has been politically subverted since the beginning of this ordeal. It sounds like you have a more familiarity with the longer arc. No bones there. The FDA is a different animal because of the influence of big pharma. Harvey Risch at Yale school of Pub Health commented recently that FDA receives a third of its funding from big pharma. I can't verify that. Even if the FDA is walled off from the influence of big pharma, if you have a cheap generic that looks to be a slam dunk for a new indication going up against a patented product that is x200 more expensive per pt. and is less effective than the generic, pharma's less effective expensive drug wins out. I expect this happens mainly because there is NO ONE who is going to spend the time and effort to promote the generic option. Trump is inept at it. And if you heard his convention acceptance speech, he made a comment about being worked over by big pharma and gave a facial expression suggestive of someone being rectally probed by an unapproved medical device.
The relevant HCQ data is in:
That is a massive treatment effect for low dose with early administration before pneumonia sets in. 6 independent studies from 5 western nations, meaning different potential biases and covariates between studies, yet highly consistent results in direction and magnitude among all 6 studies. Over 35,000 subjects combined. No new safety issues observed with HCQ in Covid using low doses of a med that has had FDA approval for 65 years and is used off label for tens of thousands of patients daily in the US.
Given the US covid caseload since March, best case is that those study results would translate into tens of thousands of Americans being alive today had this been utilized from the beginning.