Dr. Jay Varma from NYC describes how media is used to “twist” stories about Mpox drugs

Disgraced former New York City COVID Commissioner Dr. Jay Varma was caught apparently admitting that he used the media to “spin stories” about a monkeypox drug manufactured by his former employer, SIGA Technologies Inc.

The comments were featured in a heavily edited trailer for Part two of a series of secretly recorded conversations with a so-called undercover investigator from the “Mug Club” of conservative podcaster Steven Crowder.

The edited clips of Varma, released on Wednesday, were reportedly filmed on a hidden camera and recorded in New York between July 27 and August 14.

The post office did not review the complete, unedited images.

In the latest video, Varma – who previously served as chief health adviser to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and was tasked with leading the Big Apple's pandemic response – describes the Food and Drug Administration's approval process and talks about SIGA Technologies' drug “Tecovirimat” or “TPOXX.”

“That's why it's helpful to get this out in the media. We want the FDA to approve our drugs, especially for monkeypox. But right now it's only considered experimental and will not be approved,” he said.

In the United States, TPOXX is not approved by the FDA to treat Mpox, but according to SIGA Technologies, it may be used to treat patients in a clinical trial called the Study of Tecovirimat for Human Mpox Virus (STOMP).

The company's website further states that the STOMP study is being conducted to evaluate the efficacy of TPOXX in the treatment of Mpox.

In a video recorded on August 14, Varma complained that his then-employer was “sitting on our drug,” but that people “won't have as much confidence in it because the data is not as strong as it should be.”

“Sometimes you do a study and this damn… nothing works at all, or people get really sick from it,” he said in the secret recording.

“The problem is that another study will take a year or two because you have to get approval from the ethics committee, you need money and you have to find patients.”

In the videos, Varma then boasted that he “knows the reporters well” and referred to a September interview with the New York Times about Mpox, in which TPOXX was touted as a drug to treat Mpox infection.

Varma also described the World Health Organization's “emergency use authorization process” before explaining how he believes the media should report on TPOXX.

“So basically we're trying to get the media to say, 'Oh, the drug didn't work because it was designed wrong. So they're going to do another study and probably it will work,' and in the meantime people are just prescribing it as an emergency drug. That's the story they want to tell,” he said in the edited clip.

Varma added that the risk of Mpox spreading in the U.S. is “very low” and will “almost certainly remain among gay men.”

“[Mpox] “Basically, it has penetrated the sexual networks of gay men … and many gay men have countless sexual partners and often do not use condoms, so as a result it spreads more easily,” said the doctor, who had previously boasted about hosting 10-person sex parties during the pandemic.

The identity of the woman Varma spoke to – or where he met her – was not clear. The nature of their relationship was also unclear.

Varma had served as executive vice president and chief medical officer for SIGA before he was fired without cause this week.

It is unclear who he reported to in the company at the time the videos were recorded and whether his comments in the recordings led to his dismissal.

Varma insisted that the first release of the secret videos – in which he admitted to partying wildly during the pandemic – was “taken out of context” and declined to comment on the second release.

In September last year, SIGA hailed Varma as an “invaluable asset” to the company as the company “worked to support the global response to the Mpox outbreak.”

The Post has asked SIGA Technologies for comment.