Gottlieb: ‘Let’s not have to say in the fall we wish we’d done more in the spring’

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said officials should have an immediate focus on developing a drug to treat the coronavirus or they risk wishing more had been done. 

“If we’d taken certain steps in winter – and recognized #coronavirus had characteristics we always feared in its balance between transmissibility and lethality – we may be in [a] different position now,” Gottlieb tweeted Sunday. “Let’s not have to say in the fall we wish we’d done more in the spring.”

THREAD: If we’d taken certain steps in winter – and recognized #coronavirus had characteristics we always feared in its balance between transmissibility and lethality – we may be in different position now. Let’s not have to say in the fall we wish we’d done more in the spring.

— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) April 5, 2020

Gottlieb said lawmakers need to “let science lead” in order to achieve a working drug to treat the coronavirus. 

“We should put everything we have into developing an effective medicine. It should be a coordinated, deliberate, urgent industrial policy,” he said in a series of tweets. “There’s no room for sluggish political leadership when it comes to this urgent priority. Everything depends on our rapid success.”

Without effective drugs, Gottlieb said the virus will “circulate in the background of society” and said consumer activity won’t return. 

“The marginal customer won’t come back to restaurants, conferences, or airplanes. We’ll be operating an 80% economy,” he said. 

Without the treatments, Gottlieb said that the virus will return in September. He also said a “massive surveillance system” that can detect early spread is necessary in order to isolate sick people and those they’ve been in contact with. 

He highlighted four main antibody programs in the U.S., by Lilly, Regeneron, Vir and Agmen. 

“We need to place bets. This is a time for focus on possible winners, move them quickly along,” he said. 

“None of these drugs is a complete solution. But they can be a bridge to vaccine and interim step powerful enough to restore confidence; save lives. Coupled to tools of public health, with a drug in our bag, we can make #COVID19 a manageable threat,” he added. “The stakes could not be higher.”