Trump coronavirus: Pioneering drug being used to treat president already in use in north of England hospitals
Antibody cocktail is ‘very promising’, say experts
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump is being treated for coronavirus with an experimental drug, but the US president will not be the first person to receive the new antibody cocktail called REGN-COV2: several hundred patients in the north of England have already been treated with it.
The drug is in such early stages of development that it has not yet been peer-reviewed.
But so promising are initial results that, here in the UK, it has already been rolled out to a handful of hospitals as part of Oxford University’s national Recovery Trial – a clinical scheme to identify treatments for Covid-19.
“This particular drug has probably been given to, I would think now, four or five hundred patients, mild or severe patients in different trials, and so far there's been no worrying safety signals,” said Professor Peter Horby, co-chief investigator of Recovery.
The treatment itself works by binding to a protein on the surface of the virus, which, in turn, stops the virus from attaching to cells in the body and thereby replicating. This allows the immune system to attack the invader before it is overwhelmed.
It has been developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which previously developed a similar antibody drug against Ebola.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Prof Horby called it “very potent” and “very promising”, and said it was to be rolled out to “another 30 to 40 hospitals” in the UK next week.
He added: “The class of drugs, these artificial antibodies, have been around for quite a while now, and they’ve been extensively used in inflammatory conditions and cancers, and they're pretty safe and well understood, and so the technology is something that I think we have confidence in.
“This particular drug has probably been given to, I would think now, four or five hundred patients, mild or severe patients in different trials, and so far there’s been no worrying safety signals.
“In the laboratory, in cell cultures it has a very strong effect against the virus, and there have been studies in artificial animals where it also shows benefits. So probably of the drugs that are available, it's one of the most promising.”
Referring to Mr Trump, he said a single dose of the treatment provides “prolonged protection” for “a month to six weeks”, making it “quite attractive for the older population”.
The US president, who is 74, has also been given Remdesivir, an antiviral treatment which has been shown to help some coronavirus patients recover faster.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments