MIAMI (WSVN) - President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis is shining a spotlight on experimental drugs being used to treat him, the same drugs being used in a University of Miami study that aims to examine their effectiveness, not to treat the virus, but to prevent it.
Dr. Gary Kleininer at UM said the antibody polyclonal cocktail, produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., has been has been used safely for 20 years in everything from skin disorders to Crohn’s disease.
“In the president’s case, it was used for treatment. The study at UM is being used for prevention,” he said, “so this would be people who don’t have any symptoms of COVID but live in a household where someone is positive, and the hope is that this medicine would provide protection.”
Kleininer said the drug cocktail shows promise.
“It is an experimental treatment, but the medicine has been used in over 2,000 patients,” he said.
Regeneron released the cocktail under the “compassionate use request.” Under that policy, the Food & Drug Administration permits usage to those who are not participating in clinical trials.
Trump, who is being treated at the National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is also on the antiviral drug remdesivir, which has to be administered under hospital supervision.
“If he needs all five days, that will likely be the course, but again, every day we’re reviewing with the team his needs for being here,” said Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician, “and as soon as he gets to the point where it’s not a requirement, he may still need some care, but if we can provide that downtown at the House, then we will transition at that point.”
The antibody cocktail study is in Phase 3 trials, the last phase before the FDA would approve a drug.
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