Explained: which drugs has Donald Trump been prescribed and why?
Experts say cocktail of medication suggests the president may be seriously ill with Covid
The coronavirus drugs prescribed to Donald Trump indicate that the president may be battling a more severe case of Covid-19 than the White House is letting on, according to infectious disease experts.
After testing positive for coronavirus last week, Trump has been given a powerful cocktail of medications including antiviral drug remdesivir, a steroid called dexamethasone and a combination of antibodies. The 74-year-old’s doctors say he is also taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and aspirin, but “it is not clear if any of these are deliberately for Covid 19”, the BBC reports.
The combination of drugs given to the president “may never have been prescribed together to an individual patient”, adds the Financial Times. Indeed, the breadth of medicines being taken by Trump has led some experts to suggest that the US leader may be more unwell than his lead physician, Sean Conley, has admitted.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Some experts have raised another possibility: that Trump is directing his own treatment, and is demanding drugs that he does not fully understand.
This phenomenon, says the The New York Times, even has a name: “VIP syndrome, which describes prominent figures who receive poor medical care because doctors are too zealous in treating them - or defer too readily to their instructions”.
“You think you’re helping,” Dr Celine Gounder, a clinical assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told the newspaper. “But this is really a data-free zone, and you just don’t know that.”
Either way, “the use of the experimental treatments will have required a careful weighing of the risks, given the possible side-effects and the chance of adverse interactions between the different chemicals”, says the FT.
Dexamethasone
This steroid works by calming the immune system, but a British professor who led the trial of the drug has said that it works best on serious cases of Covid-19 - “adding to fears over the seriousness of the president’s illness”, The Telegraph reports.
“Dexamethasone reduces mortality or improves survival particularly for patients with severe Covid,” Martin Landray, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Oxford, told the paper.
Monoclonal antibody therapy
Made by US biotechnology company Regeneron, this combination of antibodies mimics the natural human immune response. There is “huge hope it will be effective”, says the BBC, but “the evidence in patients is still very limited and these monoclonals are still classed as an experimental drug”.
“The president is one of only a handful of people outside those trials to undergo the treatment under what is known as ‘compassionate use’,” the broadcaster adds.
Remdesivir
Developed originally as a treatment for Ebola, remdesivir works by disrupting the ability of the virus to copy itself. Clinical trials have shown the drug can cut the duration of Covid symptoms from 15 days to 11, but it is not a life-saving drug.
And the rest
Vitamin D and zinc both have a role in a healthy immune system, but have never been proven to help fight Covid.
Famotidine decreases stomach acid production and is used for people with stomach ulcers or reflux. Meanwhile, melatonin is a hormone that can improve sleep, while aspirin is a pain killer and blood thinner.
Trials to determine whether aspirin could help fight coronavirus have been launched, but no evidence supporting that hope has emerged.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Arion McNicoll is a freelance writer at The Week Digital and was previously the UK website’s editor. He has also held senior editorial roles at CNN, The Times and The Sunday Times. Along with his writing work, he co-hosts “Today in History with The Retrospectors”, Rethink Audio’s flagship daily podcast, and is a regular panellist (and occasional stand-in host) on “The Week Unwrapped”. He is also a judge for The Publisher Podcast Awards.
-
What are Lucy Letby's grounds of appeal?
In depth Convicted former nurse's legal team claims judge at original trial wrongly refused her applications
By The Week UK Published
-
Grindr 'shared user HIV status' with ad firms, lawsuit claims
Speed Read LGBTQ dating app accused of breaching UK data protection laws in case filed at London's High Court
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published
-
The best dog-friendly hotels around the UK
The Week Recommends Take a break with your four-legged friend in accommodation that offers you both a warm welcome
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
Sitting in judgment on Trump
Opinion Who'd want to be on this jury?
By Susan Caskie Published
-
How could the Supreme Court's Fischer v. US case impact the other Jan 6. trials including Trump's?
Today's Big Question A former Pennsylvania cop might hold the key to a major upheaval in how the courts treat the Capitol riot — and its alleged instigator
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
'Good riddance to the televised presidential debate'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Trump's first criminal trial starts with jury picks
Speed Read The former president faces charges related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why are Republicans trying to change Nebraska's Electoral College vote?
Today's Big Question It's a chance for Donald Trump to block Joe Biden's path to re-election
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
House GOP scuttles FISA vote at Trump's urging
Speed Read Right-wing lawmakers blocked Speaker Mike Johnson's surveillance bill
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
To win the election, Trump is changing how elections are run
Under The Radar While the former president campaigns for a second term in office, he and his team have quietly been working to tilt the nation's electoral rules in his favor.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published