Zinc seems to be the key to the drug’s effectiveness, but many trials ignore it. Why? Action Alert!
New reports indicate that President Trump is taking hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc to protect against the coronavirus. As we’ve written before, research indicates that high concentrations of zinc inside cells inhibit the replication of RNA viruses such as COVID-19, but due to zinc’s other characteristics, cells do not typically tolerate high levels of this mineral. Further research indicates that hydroxychloroquine helps by getting zinc into the cells.
It is interesting that either President Trump or his physicians understand the importance of zinc, whereas most of the clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine in the US deliberately leave zinc out, presumably because zinc is not a patentable drug. Moreover, hydroxychloroquine is now off-patent, so it is a cheap drug which will not make large profits for Big Pharma. Predictably, we’ve seen these trials so far find no benefit for hydroxychloroquine alone.
Hydroxychloroquine is a highly toxic drug with potentially negative side effects. By contrast, quercetin, a natural substance, is completely non-toxic and enhances the entry of zinc into cells. Note too that quercetin itself has anti-viral properties. There have already been animal trials on the zinc/quercetin combination for use against Ebola and SARS-CoV1, and human clinical trials have been approved by the FDA. EGCG from green tea also may enhance the entry of zinc into cells.
Missing the importance of zinc is yet another example of a crony medical system that largely ignores unpatentable, natural products in preference for expensive pharmaceutical drugs. In order to make any kind of health claim, a supplement would need to go through FDA drug approval, which is an exorbitantly expensive process. But because supplements are generally not patentable like drugs are, no company will fund the research necessary to gain FDA approval. The result is that promising natural treatments like zinc that work are completely ignored by our health system.
Now is the time to educate Congress about this unlevel playing field that throttles natural products.
Action Alert! Write to the FDA and Congress, telling them to allow nutrient/COVID research by changing the rules so that the research and approval process no longer costs billions. Please send your message immediately.
