Trump, on steroids and oxygen assistance 8:04
(CNN Spanish) -
Few details are known of the treatment that United States President Donald Trump underwent since his coronavirus diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.
We know that Trump received an experimental cocktail of monoclonal antibodies, dexamethasone and remdesivir.
Dr. Elmer Huerta analyzes the president's treatment, based on the information given by his treating doctors.
You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform, or read the transcript below.
Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily dose of information about the new coronavirus, information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
President Donald Trump's recent covid-19 diagnosis is global news.
And much more his hospitalization, which has given him access to the most advanced treatments that science can offer at this time.
Today we will do a brief review of these treatments, especially the so-called monoclonal antibody cocktail.
The treatments Trump receives
Although there are still controversies regarding when he had his last negative test, President Trump announced shortly after midnight on Friday, October 2 that both his test and that of the first lady, Melania Trump, had come back positive.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19.
We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately.
We will get through this TOGETHER!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
At a press conference on Saturday, October 3, his doctors revealed that, at the White House, the president received a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies.
And, due to a high fever and decreased oxygen saturation, he was hospitalized on Friday the 2nd at the Walter Reed Naval Medical Center.
But what are monoclonal antibodies?
Remember that antibodies are molecules produced by a type of smart white blood cell called B lymphocytes.
Antibodies and the body's immune system
Antibodies are produced in response to stimulation by antigens, which are various types of substances, usually proteins and complex sugars.
The response of the defense system to antigens (present in the structure of viruses and bacteria) is part of what is called the immune response.
Monoclonal antibodies, also called MABs or Moabs, are a class of drugs made in the laboratory that target specific sites (antigens) on cells or viruses.
A MAB drug then contains a large number of copies of a single type of antibody.
Currently, there are more than 30 MAB drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, which are recognized because their name ends with the letters "mab."
These drugs are used to treat various diseases such as:
Cancer
Multiple sclerosis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Cardiovascular diseases
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Crohn's disease
Ulcerative colitis
And psoriasis
They are also used to treat transplant rejection and other diseases.
Monoclonal antibody treatment
The experimental cocktail that President Trump received is called
REGN-COV2
and it is manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Regeneron.
To make the cocktail, scientists examine the blood of people who have already overcome the disease and, as we said in the June 24 episode, look for the most active antibodies in neutralizing the virus.
Then, they manipulate the defense system of genetically modified mice, so that each group of mice produces huge amounts of a single type of those antibodies.
The medicine then consists of a mixture of several monoclonal antibodies (hence the name cocktail), which are directed at specific antigens in the protein structure of the new coronavirus (a kind of shell called a capsid).
Its mechanism of action is to neutralize circulating coronaviruses.
This reduces the viral load and prevents them from entering the cells and worsening the disease.
In an unpublished study of 275 patients, the company said the cocktail lowered viral load and improved symptoms in a significant group of infected people.
This is why this type of medicine is considered to be very promising.
The medicine is given only once, and is expected to keep the virus from entering cells for the duration of the antibodies.
As a historical and important note for Latin Americans, monoclonal antibodies were created in 1975 by two scientists: the Argentine César Milstein and the German Georges Köhler, from the University of Cambridge, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1984.
The other treatments: remdesivir and dexomethasone
Returning to the case of President Trump, it has been revealed that he also received the antiviral remdesivir.
As we saw in the episode of May 1, it has shown that it can improve the patient and reduce the days of hospitalization.
Later, it was also revealed that, due to lung changes not well explained by his doctor, Trump also received dexamethasone.
It is a medicine that, as we saw in the episode of July 1, is the only medicine - so far - that is capable of reducing the mortality of patients with severe lung disease.
We all hope that the President will improve with the combination of these powerful drugs, an antiviral, a powerful steroid, and experimental monoclonal antibodies.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus?
Send me your questions on Twitter, we will try to answer them in our next episodes.
You can find me at @DrHuerta.
If you think this podcast is helpful, help others find it by rating and reviewing it on your favorite podcast app.
We will be back tomorrow so be sure to subscribe to get the latest episode on your account.
And for the most up-to-date information, you can always go to CNNEspanol.com/coronavirus.
Thanks for your attention.
If you have any questions you can send them to Dr. Elmer Huerta via Twitter. You can also head over to CNNE.com/coronaviruspodcast for all episodes of our “Coronavirus: Reality vs. Reality” podcast. fiction".
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