President Donald Trump is undergoing an experimental treatment against the coronavirus that has shown promise in fighting the infection.
Regeneron, a biotechnology company working on an experimental drug to fight the coronavirus, said initial patient reaction has been positive. The medication is given as a one-time treatment through an intravenous injection.
Trump is taking the treatment “as a precautionary measure,” said Dr. Sean Conley, the president’s physician.
The Regeneron antibody cocktail includes multiple antibodies that target different parts of the coronavirus trapping and shutting down the infection, CNN reported. Antibodies are proteins that the body makes after an infection.
The results from 275 patients out of 1,000 who are part of the trial are “promising,” Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at University of Alabama, told CNN.
“What I think is fascinating is that it shows that antibodies really matter and the antibody to the spike protein was really helpful, particularly when people made the antibodies themselves,” Marrazzo said. “Whether it’s antibody therapy or vaccine that target these proteins, it sounds like we are on the right track. I think that’s really encouraging.”
The early numbers have not yet been peer reviewed and only top line data was made available by the company. It is unclear who, demographically, was part of the study and how many patients were hospitalized.
“We don’t have that information today, but we will,” Dr. Leonard Schleifer, company co-founder, told CNN. “We have already learned that hospitalized patients have even higher viral load, suggesting they’re not attempting an adequate immune response, so we would hope we’d be able to see the same thing with those patients.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.