Whistleblower Richard Bright tells GOP why it was wrong to hype hydroxychloroquine

President Donald Trump in recent weeks has stopped hyping the drug hydroxychloroquine as more studies have cast significant doubt about its effectiveness in treating COVID-19.

Whistleblower Dr. Richard Bright, who was ousted last month from his position as the head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, told lawmakers on Thursday that he pushed back on promoting hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, and he explained to Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) that the drug never should have been hyped without significant study.

During congressional testimony, Bilirakis pressed Bright about studies released earlier this year that showed the purported benefits of the drug, and Bright replied by pointing out how those studies were far from comprehensive.

"We have seen and heard of anecdotal data from different patients that they believe they've seen benefit or patient improvement from use of this drug in either combination with an antibiotic azithromycin or a combination with zinc or other things," Bright said. "But there was never a evidence from a randomized control study that it showed its benefit would actually outweigh the potential risk."

Bright proceeded to say that "most of the data coming out from those clinical studies to date haven't shown an overwhelming evidence that it has benefit in those patients," and he also noted a study from the Department of Veterans Affairs showed "that people who were treated with hydroxychloroquine had a higher rate of death than those not treated with hydroxychloroquine."

Watch the video below.