Blaze Media Well, the good news is that hospitals are finally using another drug to treat COVID aside from the failed remdesivir. The bad news is that this drug comes with a rare FDA “black box” warning of causing blood clots and also costs a fortune. Why is it that our government trashes every cheap, safe outpatient therapeutic that has been used for decades without problems, but only approves expensive therapeutics that cause blood clots or renal failure (in the case of remdesivir)? This is the ultimate case of therapeutic nihilism.
Last November the FDA quietly gamed emergency authorization use to baricitinib, a drug used for acute rheumatoid arthritis, which is produced by Eli Lilly under the brand name Olumiant. The specific authorization is for COVID patients requiring supplemental oxygen, non-invasive mechanical ventilation, invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
