Regeneron’s drug, REGN-COV2, is part of a class of experimental COVID-19 drugs known as monoclonal antibodies Despite being in the early stages of development and not having been peer reviewed, the drug’s initial results in the UK are promising LONDON: US President Donald Trump has been treated with an experimental antibody cocktail for COVID-19 while moving to a military hospital as a precautionary measure, White House officials said on Friday. The president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said in a statement that Trump “remains fatigued but in good spirits” after receiving an intravenous dose of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc’s dual antibody. Trump was also taking immune system boosters zinc and vitamin D, aspirin, and other generic drugs. Trump, 74, walked to a helicopter on Friday before being moved to a special suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for the next few days. Regeneron’s drug, REGN-COV2, is part of a class of experimental COVID-19 drugs known as monoclonal antibodies: manufactured copies of human antibodies to the virus that are being studied for use in patients with early illness. Trump’s doctors “must be sufficiently concerned with what they are seeing that they decided to use an experimental medicine ... Experimental drugs are by definition risky,” said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, infectious disease specialist at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. However, Trump will not be the first person to test the experimental drug, as the REGN-COV2 has been sampled on several hundred people in the north of England, the Independent reported. Despite being in the early stages of development and not having been peer reviewed, the drug’s initial results in the UK are promising and it has been rolled out across several hospitals involved in Oxford University’s “Recovery” trial. Speaking on BBC Radio 4, 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. Antibodies are proteins made by the body"s immune system that recognize, bind and neutralize an invading virus. Regeneron"s cocktail — which contains an antibody made by the company and a second isolated from humans who recovered from COVID-19 — is designed so that its two antibodies bind to the coronavirus" spike protein, limiting the ability of viruses to escape. In the US, Regeneron this week reported trial results showing that its drug improved symptoms in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients, with no serious side effects, and said it planned to talk with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about an emergency use authorization. “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,” Horby said. “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,” he added. On the news the drug cocktail would be taken by the US president, Horby said a single dose of the treatment provides “prolonged protection” for anywhere between “a month to six weeks,” which means it is “quite attractive for the older population.” *With Reuters