What’s the Deal With Oleandrin?

President Donald Trump recently promoted oleandrin, an unproven substance, as a coronavirus treatment, according to an investigative report from Jonathan Swan at Axios. The substance was first pitched to Trump at a July meeting by a close friend who has a stake in a company pushing oleandrin as a treatment. In Elemental, writer Robert Roy Britt warns that there’s no evidence that oleandrin, an extract from the Nerium oleander plant, can treat Covid-19 — but there’s plenty of evidence that it’s a dangerous poison.