Regeneron

source: Le Nouvel Observateur/AFP October 3, 2020

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

What we know about the "experimental treatment" against the Coronavirus that will benefit President Trump

Experts point out the danger of injecting the most powerful man in the world with a drug that is certainly promising but still so little tested.

US President Donald Trump is being treated with an experimental treatment against Covid-19 , synthetic antibodies, and is suffering from fatigue, the White House doctor announced on Friday without giving more details on the president's symptoms.

"This afternoon, the president continues to suffer from fatigue but is in high spirits," Sean Conley, the president's doctor, said in a statement.

Experimental cocktail

He said he was injected with a dose of the experimental cocktail developed by biotechnology company Regeneron, which has shown encouraging preliminary results in clinical trials on a small number of patients. He received the highest dose, 8 grams.

Donald Trump also takes zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and aspirin, according to his doctor.

Experts are examining the president and will make recommendations for "next steps," the doctor added. Other experts also point to the danger of injecting the most powerful man in the world with a drug that is certainly promising but still so little tested, because of the possible side effects.

A treatment worth 600 million dollars in subsidies

Sean Conley said Melania Trump, also infected, was suffering from a "mild cough and headache" . But he did not give more details on Donald Trump's condition, beyond the fatigue experienced.

Synthetic antibodies are made in laboratories and, when injected into a patient's body, work on the virus to neutralize it just as the immune system is supposed to do. Last week, Regeneron announced that in a trial of 275 patients, the cocktail reduced the amount of virus in infected patients who were out of hospital and accelerated their recovery.

A triple cocktail using the same method showed its effectiveness against Ebola last year.

Regeneron has received more than $ 600 million from the US government to develop this treatment. The Eli Lilly laboratory is also developing synthetic antibodies against Covid-19 and previously announced promising preliminary results. But neither of the two treatments has yet received marketing authorization.