Brett Favre Syndication: USA TODAY

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre started backing an experimental drug that was designed to treat concussion injuries four years ago, even appearing on TV and radio to promote its potential.

Favre believed in the product so much that he lobbied Mississippi state officials to grant them millions of dollars in funding. That money, which was federal welfare money intended to go to the state’s poorest families, is at the center of a massive welfare fraud scandal. And Favre’s shady text messages appear to show that he was well aware of what the money was intended to be used for, instead of the Southern Miss football facility and volleyball arena he tried to redirect the money towards.

While the scandal has many disappointing and angering angles to it, perhaps one of the most frustrating ones is that Favre was redirecting all of that money towards a drug that, according to some experts, almost certainly did not do what it said it would.

“You’re better off buying a lottery ticket,” said David Maris, a New Jersey-based financial analyst who specializes in pharmaceuticals, told NBC News. “It’s destined to be a zero.”

According to Maris, Odyssey Health, the publicly traded company that now controls the drug, has less than $1 million available. Furthermore, none of their key executives have ever brought a drug to the market.

“I think it’s the wrong team, I think it’s the wrong product, and I think that they don’t have enough money to make it happen,” Maris said. “So, no, I wouldn’t have invested in 2018, and I wouldn’t invest today.”

“There is no magic pill for concussion,” Dr. Majid Fotuhi, a neurologist and neuroscientist, told NBC News. “I don’t think there’s any drug that can reverse all the symptoms of a concussion.”

Abby Wambach, who was a member of the sports advisory board for Odyssey Health, cut all ties to the company after the news of Favre’s misdealings came to light.

[NBC News]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.