Dr. Anthony Fauci is rejecting Yale epidemiologist Dr. Harvey Risch’s arguments about randomized placebo-controlled studies of hydroxychloroquine.
Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, made his comments during a Thursday interview on CNN’s "New Day” program.
President Donald Trump has touted the drug as a possible treatment for the coronavirus. But most studies have found the drug to be ineffective and even dangerous.
“New Day” host brought up the issue with Fauci. Berman said: “However we did have Dr Harvey Risch from Yale on Monday, and he suggested what you have been saying, that random controlled trials, placebo-controlled trials, you say they’re the gold standards. He says that’s not so.”
Berman asked Fauci why he felt so strongly about the trials.
“Well, because it is the gold standard,” Fauci said. “You have to compare your intervention with something. Because the medical literature and experience is full of situations of anecdotal retrospective cohort studies that have proven to be wrong.”
“I might add, agreeing with me is virtually every scientist who is competent in clinical trials, that will say that the randomized placebo-controlled trial is in fact the gold standard. So I would have to respectfully totally disagree with him.”