A time presented as a miracle cure against Covid-19, Remdesivir, the antiviral used against Ebola, ultimately displays low effectiveness. Donald Trump, who tested positive for the virus on October 2, nevertheless used this treatment to treat himself.
- Donald Trump’s state of health is more serious than it seems.
- Remdesivir, used by the US president, has not shown efficacy in reducing mortality.
- At 74, Donald Trump is a patient at risk.
On October 2, Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19. Hospitalized at Walter-Reed, an elite military institution located north of Washington, the American president is being treated with Remdesivir, an antiviral developed by the American laboratory Gilead Sciences. A time perceived as the miracle treatment against Covid-19, the drug finally showed low effectiveness.
Trump bought 90% of Remdesivir stock
This Sunday, Donald Trump paraded in a presidential car to show his good health before returning to the hospital where he stayed for a third consecutive night. His state of health, a time presented as excellent despite the infection, would in fact be more affected than it seems. A relative of the president assured that his condition is “very disturbing” before the spokeswoman for the White House recognizes that Donald Trump has undergone several oxygenations. To treat the American president, the doctors injected him with a dose of the experimental cocktail of synthetic antibodies developed by the company Regeneron and which is not the subject of a marketing authorization. Added to this is a mix of several products: zinc, vitamin D, famotidine (a drug that reduces heartburn), melatonin (a hormone traditionally prescribed against sleep disorders) and aspirin.
The main drug used by the president to treat himself is Remdesivir. The antiviral aroused a lot of hope last May when the results of a first experiment on monkeys showed its effectiveness. Without waiting for more results, Donald Trump bought 90% of existing stocks to treat patients with Covid-19. The product even became the last survivor of clinical trials on treatments for the virus conducted by the WHO and Europe. The United States very quickly gave a marketing authorization.
Donald Trump is a patient at risk
The latest results of trials on Remdesivir have shown a low effectiveness of this treatment. This would only relieve a few symptoms of patients with severe forms of Covid-19 and requiring low-flow oxygenation. It would shorten the recovery time for patients from 15 to 11 days. He stays “still many uncertainties about the efficacy and tolerance of remdesivir”, concluded the High Authority for Health (HAS) in a notice on this processing, published Thursday, September 17. The drug would not reduce mortality.
Despite these doubts, the American president’s doctors are betting on Remdesivir. “The doctors who advise Donald Trump want to reduce the viral load very quickly even if, as I said, there is no demonstration in humans that it works”, estimates Nicolas Dauby, infectiologist at the Saint-Pierre University Hospital Center, at the RTBF. Given his age, 74, Donald Trump automatically falls into the box of people at risk. Doctors then seek at all costs to prevent the disease from progressing. If that is the case “his prognosis will not be good”, advances the infectiologist.
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