On the eve of the presidential election in the United States, incumbent President Donald Trump tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. However, the Head of State received a treatment still in the trial phase, a real boon for the start-up that developed it.
For about a week, United States President Donald Trump has had the coronavirus. As explained by Bloomberg or the New York Times, a medical team administered multiple treatments to the person concerned. It is about a massive injection of 8 g of REGN-COV2 , a cocktail of antibodies developed by the start-up Regeneron. The president also received remdesivir, a molecule that was once a serious contender for the treatment of coronavirus. However, its effectiveness was later questioned. Finally, dexamethasone (a corticosteroid whose effectiveness has been proven in the most serious cases) was also administered.
Of these substances, that of Regeneron is the most popular. However, this is a real boon for society, receiving a serious publicity stunt out of nowhere. Nevertheless, this treatment raises questions, because although promising, it is still in the test phase. According to Regeneron, Donald Trump himself asked to be given this treatment.
As Americans continue to die from the coronavirus, so Donald Trump decides to become a kind of guinea pig. For Regeneron, the light on this treatment is a real boost at a time when the pharmaceutical industry is at war to impose new drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2. Let us mention the fact that other companies such as Eli Lilly &Co. or AbCellera Biologics are working on substances similar to REGN-COV2. With this competitive advantage, Regeneron shareholders are obviously happy with the news. Up by nearly 60% over the year 2020, the price of the start-up increased by 10% with the announcement of the administration of the treatment on the president.
Let's also discuss the issue of safety regarding this medical decision. It turns out that bypassing the traditional health validation processes for a new substance is not very wise. Indeed, REGN-COV2 has not yet received any green light from the Food &Drugs Administration (FDA). Nonetheless, it's a safe bet that the White House has had access to all of the data from the ongoing Regeneron study. This data was probably quite positive to authorize the administration of the treatment.
