As I see itDonald Trump’s treatment reminds us to hedge bets on Covid-19 research

Name: Donald Trump continues to downplay severity of Covid-19 as more US officials report infections
Uploaded: 2020-10-14T08:01:30.000Z
Duration: 2 min 47 s
Description: Donald Trump continues to downplay severity of Covid-19 as more US officials report infections

Leading US expert Anthony Fauci says he strongly suspects that Regn-Cov2, a treatment using cloned antibodies, was behind the US president’s recovery

But high costs may limit the treatment’s accessibility, and uncertainties have been raised by pharma firm Eli Lilly’s suspension of its trial

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Donald Trump described his illness as a “blessing”. Photo: Reuters

Josephine Ma

Published: 4:01pm, 14 Oct 2020Updated: 4:01pm, 14 Oct 2020

The apparent recovery of Donald Trump since his Covid-19 diagnosis has focused attention on an experimental treatment he received.

The US president was given three drugs, but leading US respiratory disease expert Anthony Fauci has said he is “strongly suspicious” that the 74-year-old’s recovery is attributable to an experimental cocktail called Regn-Cov2 that uses cloned antibodies taken from the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients to neutralise the virus.

These drugs, known as monoclonal antibodies, have been used to treat illnesses such as breast cancer and rheumatoid arthritis and are generally seen by scientists as safe and effective because they are made from natural human antibodies that target a specific disease.

But there are also uncertainties around the treatment. On Tuesday, American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced it had paused its large-scale clinical trial of monoclonal antibody treatment ACTIV-3 over safety concerns. The pause has cast a shadow over the prospect of the treatment’s use against Covid-19, although pauses are not uncommon in large clinical trials.

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Donald Trump continues to downplay severity of Covid-19 as more US officials report infections

Currently 70 such products are being developed to treat Covid-19, several of which are undergoing clinical trials.

Trump was given a cocktail made from two antibodies by the US pharmaceutical company Regeneron, which is seeking emergency use permission from the Food and Drug Administration.