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Trump receiving Regeneron’s experimental Covid-19 treatment

Trump receiving Regeneron’s experimental Covid-19 treatment

Regeneron’s antibody treatment has been show to help non-hospitalized patients recover faster in early studies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4AMNDFnqtA

President Donald Trump’s physician is treating the president with an experimental antibody cocktail being developed by the drug maker Regeneron, as well as zinc, vitamin D, and the generic version of the heartburn treatment Pepcid.

There are no approved treatments for Covid-19, but the Regeneron treatment is one of the most promising candidates, along with another antibody treatment developed by Eli Lilly. Both are being tested in patients around the country. Initial results have suggested that they can reduce the level of the virus in the body and possibly shorten hospital stays — when they are given early in the course of infection.

Although Regeneron’s product has not been authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration, companies can grant access to their experimental treatments through compassionate use, for example, if all other options have failed and a patient might die without trying the drug.

In an interview Friday afternoon, Regeneron’s chief executive, Dr. Leonard S. Schleifer, said Mr. Trump’s medical staff reached out to the company for permission to use the drug, and that it was cleared with the Food and Drug Administration.

I have highlighted both Vitamin D and zinc in prior posts, in reference to potential coronavirus preventatives and treatments. The generic Pepcid was an interesting addition and appears that it may be related to the reduction of inflammation.

  • Patients taking Pepcid were 45 percent less likely to die in the hospital and less likely to have combined adverse outcomes leading to death. The patients were also 48 percent less likely to need help breathing from a ventilator.
  • Pepcid use led to lower levels of certain blood tests associated with poorer outcomes from COVID-19.

The reason for the beneficial reaction, Dr. McKay said, is still largely theoretical. Researchers have ruled out theories that Pepcid has a direct antiviral effect or hinders protein binding and, therefore, interferes with reproduction of the virus.

“Current thoughts are that it may lessen the hyperimmune inflammatory response by blocking the effects of pathological histamine release from mast cells by binding to the histamine H2 receptor,” he said.

Regeneron’s Covid-19 antibody treatment has been show to help non-hospitalized patients recover faster in early studies.

A high dose of the company’s antibody cocktail, REGN-COV2, led levels of the virus to decrease more quickly in infected, non-hospitalized patients, potentially indicating the treatment may help them get better, Regeneron reported Tuesday via press release…
In a notable finding, the data seem to show that the antibody had a bigger effect in patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 but had not created high levels of their own antibodies against the virus. In this group, even a lower dose of the Regeneron antibodies seemed to result in patients getting better faster.

The data add to the early results from Eli Lilly, which showed a reduction in virus levels for patients at some doses and a tantalizing hint that the treatment might help keep patients out of the hospital.

Monoclonal antibodies are synthetic versions of one of the immune system’s own weapons against invaders. From the start of the pandemic, some experts have been most hopeful about this technology to create new medicines to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. But that potential could be limited by the ability to manufacture large quantities of the treatments. Regeneron has reached an agreement with Roche, the Swiss drug giant, to increase its production capacity.

Based on prior experience reviewing media reports on coronavirus treatments, I expect the unapproved aspect will be heavily featured in news coverage.

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Comments

Hopefully they know what’s best, we are depending on him to save us from President Harris

It’s interesting that REGN-COV2 can be used to treat the Wuhan virus. The obvious question: Could similar synthetic antibodies be used to treat other diseases, such as various cancers? Tuberculosis? Smallpox? Polio? Influenza?
.

    BierceAmbrose in reply to DSHornet. | October 4, 2020 at 12:51 pm

    In principal “yes” to some of those.(*)

    We’re seeing the maximum leaders, apparatchiks, chattering classes n barely disguised eugenicists ignore or deride any individually enabling progress vs this disease … but it leaks out.

    – The magic bullet here is a spike-targeting therapeutic “corona-cillin.”

    – The mechanism — synthesizing agents with a key in lock type structural fit, in this case to the evil entry spike — has barely begun to be exploited in therapeutics. It’s new capability.

    – Candidate therapies in development came from at two different agent hunt approaches: one synthesized n screened jillions of candidate molecules, another mathematically modeled screened. If we can synthesize these at volume that approach is an answer to more than Kung-Flu.

    That therapeutic approach would move us to having something like disease vector targeted “anti-viral-otics.” We might cure the commo cold, AIDS, Hepatitis, Herpes… And apparently, noone in charge wants that.

    (*) Corona-cillin would be roughly a spike-specific corona family therapeutic. Tuberculosis, while lung based and xmitted by contact n breathing, is a different critter – actually a bacteria A I R, suceptable to *some* conventional antibiotics. That daid, tuberculosis n a raft of other conditions might be addressable by lavage — rinsing out with not bleach, UV therapies — which the crazies at Cedars Sinai were commercializing before Trump mentioned it, and various supportive n clearing treatments from Hydroxycut to V8t D to exercise.

    With the many Kung-Flu positives among admin we might get a demonstration of what we’ve known since Feb: there’s a spectrum of case courses, most people come out just fine, we have lots of interventions to modify the outcome, n the biggest lever is is *early detection*.followed by mitigating early n hard, to keep it to a cowpox equivalent Kung-cold confined to yr head.

    BierceAmbrose in reply to DSHornet. | October 4, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    Also, we’ve known for a while that The Mighty Llama is immune to Kung-Flu.

    The mechanism is a tiny additional immune sysyem particle, something more like a T-cell (though not exactly) than a big, post-infection antibody.

    Interestingly, the indirect therapies that seem to help either directly support non-antibody immune function, or contain infection effects like inflammation. That tracks with demographics that do better – more robust general immume function, n lack of preexisting loads on the fatal failure modes.

    People with similar exposures end up on respirators n about half of them dying anyway, not knowing they ever had it, and everything in between. Maybe look at how to move the one kind of response to the other?

    Gimmie Llama mutation juice. I’m OK with being furry n spitting occasionally if that means I’m immune to the Kung-Flu n kin.

But, but, I heard a doctor on Fox say this was a bad idea, and that maybe Trump insisted on the treatment against medical advice.

    Dantzig93101 in reply to Davod1. | October 3, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    I hate to say it, but you can find doctors on almost every side of almost every question. That applies doubly when the doctors appear on television.

    Thanks for the article. It prompts an insight about where/how we live and the very low incidence of Covid here. Average age in our town is 70 – which you’d think we’d be decimated by Covid. Many of us, myself included, have been practicing what that article espouses, albeit unawares.

    For example, I’ve had a heart attack and take aspirin daily as a blood thinner (the A of ICAM); Flonase daily for allergies (the C of ICAM); C and Zinc to ward off colds (the I of ICAM). The only thing missing is the M of ICAM – Macrolides. Perhaps they’re only necessary if Covid somehow infects in spite of practicing the ICA of ICAM? And thanks to a hiatal hernia and GRD, Pepcid (famotidine) is a daily habit …

    Those things are pretty common among the aged here – perhaps that accounts for our low incidence of Covid?

    The only thing missing from that cocktail of drugs is hydroxychloroquine. The HCQ regimen incudes zinc and azithromycin. I understand that the purpose of the HCQ is to facilitate access to the virus by the zinc, which inhibits its replication.

    In wishing Trump well, Louie Gohmert, Rep. from TX, mentioned favorably the HCQ regimen in dealing with his Covid. Trump made a mistake in not insisting on it. HCQ is not dangerous and, if it worked for him, it would have turned him into a Covid genius – in view of his past, public position on it – the one subject that may cost him the election. Such visible success with it could also save a ton of lives at trivial expense (the dealbreaker issue).

      beagleEar in reply to jb4. | October 4, 2020 at 12:10 pm

      HCQ is an immune system suppressant.
      Fortunately for the president, he’s being treated by real doctors, not Internet MDs.

      gibbie in reply to jb4. | October 4, 2020 at 12:32 pm

      I think it quite likely that Trump was taking HCQ anyway.

      I believe an immune system over-reaction is what actually causes death by Wuhan virus.

        jb4 in reply to gibbie. | October 4, 2020 at 1:19 pm

        cvtokine storm – which is why a drug used worldwide for many decades against auto-immune disorders lupus and rheumatoid arthritis might be useful, if taken early, to avoid getting to that lethal point.

Waiting for Dems to accuse Pres. Trump of receiving therapy senior citizens can’t get. IF Biden gets it…then Trump did it. Wait for that.

Masks are now just a sign of submission. If no one is coughing around you… the virus is still streaming through the masks with each breath anyway. By fiat, I have to wear a mask at all times… and exchange them every day as they get musty… spoiler… the whole world is one big petri dish and viral media.

    MarkS in reply to alaskabob. | October 3, 2020 at 1:30 pm

    When you think about it, a mask is just like the air filter on your car or the furnace filter in your house. It collects all the nasty stuff in the air and keeps it right next to your face

Buy Regeneron (REGN / REGN.VI).

Another Voice | October 3, 2020 at 1:21 pm

I write this as a youngish Senior of 74.
The MSM, paper and digital, are now doubling down and perpetuating “We’re all gonna Die!” with their releases absent of any critical thinking or research. Those subscribing to repeating it are of the “It must be true..I heard it on the news report…I read it in the paper! The statistics do not prove out any of what they are selling.
That’s not to say it isn’t a bad virus, but it is not the Black Plague either. Practice common sense with diet, fresh air and exercise. Do the same as you always do, but with moderation and until there is a vaccine (there will be), wear your mask when out and about in the larger world outside of home and family. Those at home, stay busy. For those who serve in any capacity with the public, take the extra steps and double down to protecting yourself if it’s in an office, restaurant or at the “Walmart’s” of the world. Don’t take on the things to fret about which you cannot change, for when we’re through this, as will happen, will you have lost your health not to any flu, but to the worry and anxiety you gave this virus. (Which statistically you will not get). You can start having better mental health by filtering your news to checking two selected news feeds, (As Is L.I.) twice a day, AM and PM. only. Do the same for any commercial news stations. Keep your perspective in line with your values.

I love the pants wetters, where COVID is concerned.

There is a new virus loose in society. Societies are groups of people who are in close contact with each other. Therefor, there will be exposure to this virus. The more time that passes the larger the number of people who are exposed. And, the higher number of people who actually contract it. At this point, even with the draconian measures put in place to stop the virus, it permeates society. But, in this case, it appears that the vast majority of people who are symptomatic for infection by the virus survive, most with few medium term affects.

So, the POTUS, who meets with people, who are not sequestered in a government compound, reportedly contracts the virus. He takes steps to insure, hopefully, that any symptoms are mild and short term. If they are, this is a huge nothing burger. It is equivalent to what we have done for decades with the flu and the common cold; limit contact with others while symptomatic, follow a therapeutic regimen, and get plenty of rest. This is not the end of the world. It is just another day on planet Earth.

But, the virus is simply an excuse to do other things. it has been hyped as the equivalent of Ebola, by the media and parts of the medical profession, even though the overall survival rate is nearly 100%. The inference is that anyone who contracts COVID will die, or suffer serious complications from the disease. Of course, in the next breath, the same doomsayers claim that 70+% of those who contract the virus are asymptomatic. How is that possible?

The Progressives, Liberals and Dems have nothing left to oppose DJT and his populist army of voters. So, they are back to using the virus. The terrible thing is that so many people actually believe the drivel put out by the Liberal/Progressives and the media.

    Another Voice in reply to Mac45. | October 3, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    “The inference is that anyone who contracts COVID will die, or suffer serious complications from the disease. Of course, in the next breath, the same doomsayers claim that 70+% of those who contract the virus are asymptomatic. How is that possible?”

    In as of one mind here; Specifically to the lack of “critical thinking and research” for your own answers and not the drivel of daily subjection to what goes for news.

      This is all part of the hysteria that the press has drummed up. They equate having WuFlu or testing positive for it–even with zero symptoms–as a death sentence, and they’ve been doing it for months now. It has seeped into our socio-cultural consciousness whether we like it or not. People hear Trump has tested positive, and immediately, think he’s going to die, they may fear he will die, or they may rejoice at the thought, but one thing is crystal clear: the media is winning the (dis)information war.

      MILLIONS of people have had WuFlu and recovered, many of us without being one hundred percent certain we had it and never getting tested at all. Yes, 200k+ have died of it in the U.S., but the vast majority have not. The president’s age and his weight put him in a higher risk category than a younger, thinner man, but he doesn’t drink, never smoked, has no known underlying illnesses that would make him unlikely to survive. Plus, he has the best care available on the planet. My brain tells me he’ll be okay. The rest of me is worried and praying hard.

    gibbie in reply to Mac45. | October 3, 2020 at 3:27 pm

    In addition to the press weaponizing the Wuhan virus to destroy Trump, there is Scott Adams’ observation that people who write for a living are generally mentally incapable of properly analyzing data. This explains a lot of the idiotic content of news articles.

    Also, the data are hopelessly non-uniform and corrupted.

yet no hydroxychloroquine listed. why?

Pepcid as a treatment for Covid?
That will probably go in the same round been that hydroxychloraquine. Not expensive enough for the FDA.

So it’s Big Pharma that’s going to save the economy and our society. More specifically, upstart venture-capital fund Little Pharma, together with the manufacturing might of Big Pharma. A Swiss BF no less, so you know your injection contains what it is intended to, and not some weird poisons like Mexican hand sanitizer.

When you have a fast pitch coming across the plate, you need a heavy hitter, no hippies.