Ben Carson: Trump Saved My Life After I Got COVID, Antibody Cocktail Used By Trump Works
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson thanked President Donald Trump for saving his life after he contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) along with his wife earlier this month.
The world-renowned neurosurgeon said the same treatment that saved President Trump from COVID-19 also healed him.
“Thank you everyone for your support and prayers as Candy and I battled COVID-19. I was extremely sick and initially took Oleander 4X with dramatic improvement. However, I have several co-morbidities and after a brief period when I only experienced minor discomfort, the symptoms accelerated and I became desperately ill,” Carson, who tested for the coronavirus earlier in November, wrote on Facebook.
Carson: I am now “out of the woods”
“I became desperately ill. President Trump was following my condition and cleared me for the monoclonal antibody therapy that he had previously received, which I am convinced saved my life,” the African-American neurosurgeon added.
“President Trump, the fabulous White House medical team, and the phenomenal doctors at Walter Reed have been paying very close attention to my health and I do believe I am out of the woods at this point. I am hopeful that we can stop playing politics with medicine and instead combine our efforts and goodwill for the good of all people,” Carson further said.
He also noted that “there are a number of promising treatments that need to be tested, approved, and distributed (sooner rather than later) so that the economy can be reopened” and the American people can “return to a semblance of normalcy.”
FDA grants emergency use for antibody cocktail used by Trump
Meanwhile, the same antibody mix used for President Trump when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 back in early October was also granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA said on Saturday evening that the authorization for the antibody cocktail was given to Regeneron Pharmaceutical.
The treatment contains two antibodies — casirivimab and imdevimab — which the FDA said has shown “promise” in treating coronavirus patients with “mild to moderate” cases but “are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19.”
“The US FDA issued an emergency use authorization for casirivimab and imdevimab to be administered together for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing and who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19,” the FDA said in a statement on November 21, adding that this includes those who are 65 years of age or older or who have certain chronic medical conditions.
In a clinical trial of patients with COVID-19, FDA said casirivimab and imdevimab, administered together, were shown to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for disease progression within 28 days after treatment.
Treatment not for those already hospitalized
Nonetheless, the FDA noted that the antibody concoction “are not authorized” for patients who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 or require oxygen therapy due to COVID-19.
“The FDA remains committed to advancing the nation’s public health during this unprecedented pandemic. Authorizing these monoclonal antibody therapies may help outpatients avoid hospitalization and alleviate the burden on our health care system,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the FDA said its authorization was based on a clinical study on about 800 people were only 3% of subjects taking Regeneron’s antibody mix — and were at high risk of severe disease — had to be hospitalized compared to the other 9% who were given placebo.
