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# White House Intervened in Hydroxy Distribution in April: WaPo
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/white-house-intervened-in-hydroxy-distribution-in-april-wapo/
- Published: 2020-11-02T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:34:54.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5147995

In April, the White House reportedly ordered the National Strategic Stockpile to distribute 23 million hydroxychloroquine tablets from its inventory to a dozen states for treating Covid-19 patients. The drug shipments were sent to several commercial distributors with orders to send them directly to hospitals and retail pharmacies in hard hit areas, according to a 10/31 *Washington Post* [report](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/31/trump-hydroxychloroquine-stockpile-pharmacies/?ref=fdaweb.com). Internal documents the *Post* reviewed also “demonstrate the steps the administration took to bypass the FDA’s March 28 [authorization](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/30/coronavirus-drugs-hydroxychloroquin-chloroquine/?itid=lk%5Finline%5Fmanual%5F18&ref=fdaweb.com) for emergency use of the tablets, which [limited their use ](https://www.fda.gov/media/136537/download?ref=fdaweb.com)to hospitals and clinical drug trials,” the report says. According to FDA’s policies at the time, state officials were supposed to request stockpile supplies before they were delivered, but the report says that that procedure was not followed in many cases.

This all occurred during the frantic early days of the pandemic when President Trump and his allies were touting hydroxychloroquine as almost a cure and preventative measure in the fight against Covid-19 ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/trumps-covid-19-drug-shows-no-benefit-study/)). FDA [withdrew ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/15/hydroxychloroquine-authorization-revoked-coronavirus/?itid=lk%5Finline%5Fmanual%5F25&ref=fdaweb.com)its emergency use authorization for the drug in June, after it found hundreds of adverse events linked to the drug’s use in Covid-19 patients, including dozens of deaths. Health officials eventually told holders of the pills that they could destroy them, according to the *Post*.

Much of the White House’s influence in directing the hydroxychloroquine distribution was attributed to president Trump’s trade adviser **Peter Navarro**, according to interviews by whistleblower and former Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority director **Rick Bright**. HHS officials and a spokesman for FDA commissioner **Stephen Hahn** told the *Post* that the efforts to distribute the stockpiled drug were not intended to circumvent the emergency use order, but rather to supply the market for its approved use in lupus patients, who were facing supply shortages.