Where Are They Now · Profile 10

David Boulware

David Boulware
Still from Epidemic of Fraud (00:29:18)

David R. Boulware, MD, MPH, CTropMed, FIDSA (University of Minnesota).

Claims are labeled Documented, Allegation or Open question. An allegation or open question is not a finding of wrongdoing. BrokenTruth.com FOIA/public-records posts are primary evidence where major media did not cover the documents. The film's language that the trial was "designed to fail" or a "sham" (Risch, 00:31:03) is the film's and its interviewees' characterization.

Who he was in the COVID era

  • Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases & International Medicine, University of Minnesota. His main research is HIV-associated cryptococcal and TB meningitis. Documented Source: UMN bio
  • PI of the first randomized HCQ post-exposure prophylaxis trial (NCT04308668). It was published in NEJM on Jun 3, 2020, the day before the Surgisphere retractions. HCQ vs placebo: 11.8% vs 14.3% COVID-compatible illness, not statistically significant. Documented Source: NEJM, Boulware et al., 2020 / PMC7289276
  • Trial limitation in his own words (his Jun 3, 2020 email to other trial teams, FDA, Gates Foundation and WHO staff, obtained by John Davidson's public-records request): "The major limitation of our trial is it is a remote trial on a limited budget, and we did not do PCR testing ourselves. Only ~20% had PCR proven disease…" Documented (via Broken Truth public-records / FOIA release) Source: BrokenTruth.com, "Now the fun begins" (Feb 5, 2025), with the full email set for download
  • Revive Therapeutics: named Scientific Advisor on Mar 24, 2020, to guide its bucillamine COVID program. He is quoted: "I am excited to assist Revive in their objective in pursuing the clinical development of Bucillamine…" Documented Source: Revive Therapeutics release via RBL, Mar 24, 2020
  • The drug supply: HCQ for the trial was donated by Rising Pharmaceuticals and Laurus Labs. Laurus was later reported in talks with Gilead to make generic remdesivir. Documented (sources in the film's source list; the link to Boulware is the film's argument)
  • Watanabe reanalysis: Marcio Watanabe's arXiv reanalysis argues the data showed a benefit. Documented (that the preprint exists; its conclusion is the author's) Source: arXiv 2007.09477
  • Notorious moment: AP's Marilynn Marchione (Jul 2020) reported Boulware bought HCQ with $5,000 of his own money early in the trial (film 00:29:28). Documented (AP reporting) Source: AP, "'Desperation science' slows the hunt for coronavirus drugs"

In the film: clips and timecodes

  • 00:29:08–00:29:22 — TV interview announcing the PEP trial (Boulware (source: YouTube bUuIhHjkqyo))
  • 00:29:28–00:30:02 — Narration: AP says $5,000 of his own money; donated drug supplier later in talks with Gilead; "avoided admitting that he was ever reimbursed"; Plaquenil brand-name exchange (Narration (film characterization))
  • 00:31:28–00:32:49 — Narration: Revive deal "the day after he announced" the study; Oct 2019 Gilead grant disclosure; Jul 6, 2020 ACP disclosure form; $17.79 Gilead food and beverage; undisclosed $3.26M Gates grant to UMN; $412M to the four universities (Narration)
  • 00:30:08–00:30:26 — "We conducted a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial… there was no effect of hydroxychloroquine. …12%… 14%." (Boulware (the 00:30:20 line speaker attribution uncertain))
  • 00:30:50 — "The double-blind and so what that means is that neither the participants nor the investigators actually knew what they were receiving." (Followed at 00:30:57 by a rebuttal: "All of those randomized controlled trials were not blinded…") (Boulware, as identified in the film)
  • 00:31:03–00:31:28 — Risch calls the studies "sham" (Risch, not Boulware)
  • 00:32:49–00:33:00 — Narration: "In October of 2023, a new study…" (the post-trial evidence segment) (Narration)
  • Full timecodes are in the annotated transcript.

How COVID-era money shows up in the record

  • Trial funding: NEJM lists private donors (David Baszucki and Jan Ellison Baszucki, and others), not Gates. Documented Source: NEJM/PMC
  • Gates Foundation to UMN: a COVID therapeutics grant to the University of Minnesota in Apr 2020, "to provide effective, accessible, scalable treatment for covid-19" (grant ID INV-017069, film 00:32:29), soon after Gates staff began corresponding with Boulware. Documented (via Broken Truth reporting + Gates grant record.) BrokenTruth.com reports $3.2M; the film says $3.26M. Sources: BrokenTruth.com, "Now the fun begins"; Gates committed grant INV-017069
  • Gates contact during the trial: John’s FOIA / public-records releases (BrokenTruth.com) produced about 100 pages of Gates Foundation–Boulware emails. They include a Gates staffer seeking a "closed and confidential" relationship between the trial's data monitoring team and WHO, and Gates vaccine lead Peter Dull’s reply to Boulware's Jun 3, 2020 results email: "Now the fun begins (continues)." Documented (via Broken Truth FOIA / public-records release) Sources: BrokenTruth.com, "Now the fun begins" (FOIA emails, downloadable); BrokenTruth.com, questions sent to the Gates Foundation, including Dull, on Jan 28, 2025; no answer (Feb 15, 2025); BrokenTruth.com follow-up (Dec 19, 2025). Boulware and the Gates Foundation did not answer Broken Truth's requests for comment.
  • Characterization (kept separate): the film's and interviewees' claims that the trial was "designed to fail" or a "sham," or that the Gates contact was meant to steer the result, are Allegation (characterization). The emails themselves are documented; intent is not.
  • Non-disclosure: The FOIA email record shows Gates Foundation contact during the trial; his NEJM disclosure PDF does not list the Gates grant to UMN or that relationship. Readers can compare the two. Documented (FOIA emails + disclosure PDF side-by-side; whether that violates disclosure rules is the film/BT framing) Sources: Broken Truth FOIA post; NEJM disclosure PDF
  • Gilead: the film cites an Oct 2019 speech disclosing a Gilead grant (archive.ph/ykuZx) and $17.79 in Gilead food and beverage (Open Payments). Documented (per the film's source list; re-pull Open Payments)
  • Four trial universities, $412M+ from Gates: UMN and the three other universities in the Boulware study (Manitoba, Alberta, McGill) received over $412 million in Gates Foundation grants over 25 years, and $52M in the prior year (as of Feb 2025). Documented (per BrokenTruth.com's tally of Gates committed-grants data; method in the post) Source: BrokenTruth.com, "Now the fun begins"

Consequences

  • None. No retraction, discipline or lawsuit was found. The NEJM paper stands. Documented (absence as of Nov 2, 2026 ET)

Where is he now

  • Still at the University of Minnesota. He is PI on NIH-funded TB meningitis and cryptococcal meningitis projects (2026) and publishing in 2026. Documented Sources: UMN bio; NIH RePORTER; UMN CFI 2026 publications
  • Open question Is he still a Revive Therapeutics advisor?

Top sources

Last reviewed November 2026 (research pass Nov. 2–3, 2026). This profile is updated as new records surface. Corrections: Press@EpidemicOfFraud.com

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