President Trump Is Getting an ‘Unprecedented’ Mix of COVID-19 Treatments. That Puts Him On the Cutting Edge of Coronavirus Care

With each day since U.S. President Donald Trump reported that he tested positive for COVID-19, his doctors have added a new major therapy to treat the disease, for a total of three at this point. On Friday—the same day that Trump said he tested positive—the President received an experimental combination of two monoclonal antibodies to help his immune system fight the coronavirus infection, according to his physician, Sean Conley. The next day—after he was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center—he received the drug remdesivir, which blocks the coronavirus’s ability to make more copies of itself. Remdesivir is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but has received emergency use authorization for treating COVID-19. On Sunday—day three—Trump’s doctors revealed he’s also taking dexamethasone, a corticosteroid typically administered to control the inflammatory response common in more advanced stages of the disease. While the monoclonal antibodies are designed to be used in non-hospitalized patients early in their infection—as the President apparently was when he received them—remdesivir was originally only authorized for hospitalized patients who are moderately to severely ill and in intensive care. That authorization has only recently been expanded, on Aug. 28, to include any hospitalized patient. Still, even hospitalized patients who may not need intensive care and receive re...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news