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gloBULL warming writer, Charis Chang of news.com.au, naturally doesn’t like hydroxy...
brings up the ridiculous VA study:

VIDEO: 30 Apr: Weekly Times: Why Australia’s stockpile of hydroxychloroquine may not be useful in fighting COVID-19
by Charis Chang, news.com.au
Australia has a huge stockpile of a new “game changer” drug that may help treat COVID-19 patients — thanks to mining magnate Clive Palmer — but unfortunately it’s not the drug that appears the most promising in research so far.

Mr Palmer bought 32.9 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to treat Australians for free after the drug was spruiked as a “game changer” in treating COVID-19 by US President Donald Trump.
According to The Guardian, the Australia’s Federal Government confirmed Mr Palmer had a “written arrangement” to buy the drug for the national medical stockpile.
“I’ve done this for Australians – it’s my money, I took the risk,” Mr Palmer told Sunrise.

That risk doesn’t seem to be paying off so far with a study released last week in the United States casting doubt on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine after finding that patients who were given the drug were at a higher risk of death than those who didn’t get it.

This is in contrast to preliminary research about a different drug called remdesivir, used to treat ebola, which does appear to be successful in treating COVID-19 and shortening the time to recovery.
America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that the results on remdesivir were so promising there was an “ethical obligation to immediately let the placebo group know so they can have access”.

Unfortunately studies in Australia are focusing on hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure instead of remdesivir.
About 2500 Australian and New Zealand patients are expected to be given hydroxychloroquine as part of the Australasian COVID-19 Trial (ASCOT) study, which is being led by the Doherty Institute in Melbourne.

The trial will test the effectiveness of using hydroxychloroquine alone, as well as in combination with HIV drugs lopinavir/ritonavir in treating the coronavirus.

More than 70 hospitals in Australia and New Zealand were expected to participate in the ASCOT trial.
Frontline health care workers will also be given hydroxychloroquine as part of a separate study to assess whether it helps prevent COVID-19, and critically ill patients in the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital will be given the drug as part of their standard treatment to look at how much of the medicine is needed to make it effective...
https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/why-australias-stockpile-of-hydroxychloroquine-may-not-be-useful-in-fighting-covid19/news-story/4b35587772b1494b8aa295ffa88b0036