In early October (2020), the White House announced that US President Donald Trump was given a course of remdesivir, a steroid called dexamethasone, and an experimental antibody cocktail.
An antibody cocktail is exactly what it sounds like, a mixture of two or more antibodies in a single treatment to help combat an infectious disease.
In Trump’s case, the antibody cocktail he received contained a combination of two monoclonal antibodies directed against a key protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.
One of these antibodies came from several patients who had recovered from Covid-19.
To make this particular antibody, doctors harvested B cells – one of the immune cells we have in our body – from the patients’ blood.
These antibodies coat the virus or bacteria and incapacitate it, so that other immune cells in our body, like macrophages, T cells and other white blood cells, can “eat†them up and clear them from our bodies!
The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was injected into this mouse and it produced antibodies against it from its own B cells.
An Oct 2 memorandum from White House physician Dr Sean Conley to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany that states Trump received a single 8g dose of Regeneron's experimental antibody cocktail for his Covid-19.
Apparently, the three patients who contributed the blood towards making this cocktail came from Singapore, according to the Asian Scientist Magazine.
This trial involves 275 patients who have seen their SARS-CoV-2 viral loads decrease and symptoms improve after being given this cocktail.
The patients in this trial were all either asymptomatic (had no symptoms), had mild Covid-19, or at most, had moderate disease.
Regeneron is doing another separate trial in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
However, we now have learned that Covid-19 marshals a patient’s immune response against his own body.
Many of the worst symptoms of Covid-19 come from the patient’s own immune cells fighting against his organs and tissues.
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