Does President Trump Have an Interest in the Company That Makes Hydroxychloroquine?

Yes, but the most recent information shows it’s not significant.

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The New York Times reported Monday that President Trump has “a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine,” a drug that the president has been advocating the use of to combat coronavirus. To be exact, according to Trump’s financial disclosure for 2018 “his three family trusts each had investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding was in Sanofi.”

Confusion over how best to interpret the numbers quickly flooded Twitter, with some overplaying the significance of Trump’s investments:

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  1. Avatar photo
    David Link

    It does seem like such a waste of outrage assuming Trump's financial interests are the reason behind his statements, when it's been clear for the three years of his presidency that the Random Position Generator that is his brain is almost certainly behind them.

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  2. RaymondSwenson

    Hydroxichloroquine has been an FDA approved drug for 65 years. It is way past its patent protection, so ANY drug company can make it without paying royalties. It is a commodity, with low profit margins. And it sells very cheap, as one would expect for a generic drug that has been in use for decades. So no windfall to drug companies, and if there is higher demand, other drug companies can step in and make more, so no one company is going to get rich off this. Trump has at most 4 thousand dollars invested in one of the drug companies, but the increase in value of the stock will of course be some percent of that. $400? Remember, he has a presidential salary of $400,000, WHICH HE DONATES. He has given away the $100,000 for the current quarter of the year to COVID-19 relief. He is NOT going to get much back from hydroxichloroquine going up.

    While you are looking at his investments, has anyone bothered to look at how much wealth Trump has LOST by supporting the shutdown of many businesses? I have a 401(k) retirement fund, and its value has taken a major hit with the drop in stock values. But Trump has been encouraging people to stay home, which is definitely hurting him financially.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Visibly

    We also know that President Trump only cares about himself. So why does he push for this treatment against expert medical advise? Perhaps a sponsor or close «friend» has given him expert advise?

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  4. Avatar photo
    Doug B.

    Not sure I understand how these Dispatch fact checks work. They provide facts and use those to provide possible conclusions. I'm used to seeing fact check sites that start with the conclusion and torture the facts to support their pre-determined positions. Radical strategy Dispatch.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Moshow

    I’m very glad that the money is not the driving factor on this but I have also never seen Trump make a decision that wasn’t about how much money he can swindle.

    I’m still not sold on the drug being this magical solution. The sample size is just way too small. Everyone that I have seen with a medical background, all have strong hesitations. I would rather listen to the Experts who have been in the field for decades then trusting the gut of a great salesman( or Con-man). What’s the worst that could happen? Let’s not have the “cure be worse then the problem”.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Earl King

    The interest in HydroxyChloroquine is its effectiveness. Read this article on how that virus behaves and how similar it is to how malaria behaves...The here since 1955 has no patents, not expensive to make...Meaning this isn't going to do a thing for Trump's portfolio..

    http://web.archive.org/web/20200405061401/https://medium.com/@agaiziunas/covid-19-had-us-all-fooled-but-now-we-might-have-finally-found-its-secret-91182386efcb

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  7. Q22

    But he could make TENS OF DOLLARS on this!!

    I'm sure Nancy and Schiff are on this.

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  8. Jeremy K

    He's just pumping this drug, because he hopes it will work so this whole thing goes away. No science. No profit. This pandemic is making him look even worse than he normally does and he wants to change the narrative ASAP.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Visibly

      That is a very risky approach. He would be much wiser if he supported convalescent plasma (blood from people who have recovered). It is fast to test, early data are promising, and it is safe with few side effects. He is obsessed with this drug. It must be a reason. But it could of course be that he is plain stupid and takes advise from the wrong people. Not exactly surprising.

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    Pat Riot

    Amazingly enough, I think Americans are so in tune with Trump's schtick that this narrative has not even begun to take hold.

    People instinctively know what a BSer is, a used-car salesman, carnival con-man, and so on. They know Trump is just holding up conspiracy theories like this because he likes to be the one to tell people lies in order to make them feel better.

    And for a con man, this is key: make people *want* to hear his lies. Make them believe it's the *truth* that hurts them and their lies that help them.

    That, and basic ego: Trump said this virus would be no big deal. He is still trying to justify that. He denies saying that now, but he knows he said it and he knows it will be played on about eleven trillion commercials between now and November.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Paul Reichardt

    Bravo, Mr. Dent.

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About Alec Dent

Alec Dent is the culture editor and a staff writer for The Dispatch. He is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously oversaw The Dispatch's fact checking team.
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