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A dose of a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies was the first drug he received Donald trump, to face the coronavirus. According to the White House, it is an experimental drug manufactured by Regeneron. Along with this he was given vitamins and gastroprotection for the stomach.
“The injection was done without side effects.” The president is weak, but he’s in a good mood, “Trump’s doctor said in a statement. Sean P. Conley.
According to the New York Times, Regeneron’s drug, whose president and chief scientist is of Greek origin George Giankopoulos (here) – is one of the candidates for the treatment of Covid-19, which has shown the most satisfactory results.
In addition to this, another drug in the same category developed by the pharmaceutical company Lilly, has been shown in small-scale clinical trials that it can reduce the levels of coronavirus in the body and possibly the time of hospitalization. It is a prerequisite that they are administered as soon as the patient is diagnosed, that is, in the early stages of diagnosis; Before Covid-19 disease develops, the patient has severe symptoms and needs intensive care.
As the drug has not been indicated for Covid-19 and is marketed, it is only administered to people who participate in clinical trials, or who have tried other treatments that have not worked, a procedure called palliative use.
According to the NYT, in an interview on Friday afternoon (New York time), the CEO of Regeneron Lennart S. SchleiferTrump’s medical staff contacted the company and requested the drug for the president. In fact, he reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued a special permit for the president.
«He is not the first patient to receive the drug for palliative use outside of clinical trials. Of course in this case it is the president of the United States.“Schleifer said.
According to the NYT, Trump and Schleifer have known each other personally for years, as Regeneron’s CEO is a member of the US president’s golf club in Westchester County.
In fact, the company had received more than $ 500 million from the United States government to develop and manufacture its product, long before clinical trials were completed. In August, it announced that it was working with Roche to increase production.
And since the drug is not currently available to cover the thousands of patients worldwide if approved, company officials say there is little stock available for palliative use as larger quantities are earmarked for clinical trials.
According to the company’s president and chief scientist George Giankopoulos, who is from Kastoria, the company is currently preparing to accept many applications for the removal of its monoclonal antibodies.
«Our company has agreed with the Ministry of Defense the distribution of the first 30,000 quotas, as soon as they are ready. We don’t want to decide who will take the drug and who will not. This would put us in a somewhat difficult position.“Said Mr. Giankopoulos.
Effectiveness
According to the results of the study announced a few days ago by George Giankopoulos himself and which were not published in a scientific journal ”.The experimental cocktail of the two monoclonal antibodies reduced coronavirus levels (viral load) and improved symptoms in untreated patients with mild to moderate Covid-19. The average duration of symptoms was shortened from six to eight days, compared to 13 days for someone who has not received any treatment.».
«We hope this data supports urgent clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).“Said Mr. Giankopoulos.
Trump received the highest dose prescribed in clinical trials. The drug works by entering the virus and when it tries to hide from the cells of the immune system, the antibody “lights up” inside it and gives it away. Therefore, the immune system’s T cells detect and treat it before it begins to multiply in the body. That was why Trump’s doctors chose this drug.
The drug is said to be effective in people who due to age do not have adequate and quality antibodies. This means that the Regeneron medicine will help more patients whose immune systems cannot cope with the invader with its own weapons.
In addition to the cocktail, Donald Trump is also taking remedisivir, a drug that acts as an antiviral, that is, it kills the virus. This means that the president receives double help in reducing the viral load in his body.
In fact, the development method of his pioneering medicines was presented last June by Mr. Giankopoulos at Kyriako Mitsotaki (here), in the context of the first global teleconference of Greek expatriates for Covid-19, which was attended by more than 100 Greek doctors and scientists who stand out around the world.
Who is George Giankopoulos?
George Giankopoulos is the President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron Laboratories and the first head of research and development in the pharmaceutical industry to become a billionaire.
He was born in 1959 and comes from a wealthy family. His grandfather, George Danis Giankopoulos, was born in Kastoria before his liberation from the Turks. He managed to “escape” to Austria, where he even learned German on his own and earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. Her mother’s family was a fur professional.
Since he was a young child, he wanted to study how different organisms regenerate certain parts of them, as he was excited about lizards that could recreate their tails. «The main reason I went to the Bronx High School of Science was because its title had the word science.“, He said.
A few years later, Giankopoulos received a phone call from Lenardn S. Slipper, who was interested in hiring talented young people for a biomedical startup.
This startup would aim to discover new ways to regenerate neurons to treat possible disorders of the nervous system and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Giankopoulos was excited. Considering the possible earnings he would make, he decided to get the job. This company later became known as Regeneron.
All these years he ran the company and did research on the nervous system. His team created the first mouse that calls “the most valuable mouse ever created». The peculiarity is that the rodent has an immune system similar to the human, so scientists can predict exactly how the human body will react to various stimuli.
In 1990 he was one of the most famous scientists, with his name in position 11 in the list of experts, whose name appears more (in scientific publications) worldwide. He was also the only biotech scientist on this list.
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