US President Donald Trump has COVID-19 and is on a cocktail of experimental drugs. What does this mean for his health? 5 October 2020
It is unknown how US President Donald Trump will respond to the experimental immunotherapy given to treat his COVID-19 infection, because the drug has not yet been tested and approved, says Hudson Institute Director and CEO, Professor Elizabeth Hartland.
President Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week and hospitalized on the weekend at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where doctors infused him with an experimental drug, Regeneron’s REGN-COV2. He has also since been administered with remdesivir, an antiviral, and dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, plus zinc and vitamin D.
Interviewed by ABC News Channel on the weekend, Prof Hartland said the ‘antibody cocktail’, REGN-COV2, given to the President, had not yet been fully tested.
“Regeneron has developed two very specific immunotherapies, antibodies, and these target the so-called spike protein of the virus,” Prof Hartland told host, Jeremy Fernandez.
“That’s the part of the virus that it uses to attach to human cells. Once it is inside the cells then it starts to multiply. The idea is that these antibodies can block the spike proteins from attaching to the cells and thereby prevent the virus getting into cells in the first place.
Prof Hartland said the President is already in a high-risk category because of his age, weight and gender.
