US President Donald Trump has said in a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh that he is pushing to get COVID-19 antibody drugs developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Eli Lilly and Co approved quickly and out to hospitals after his own treatment.
Trump stated that he might not have recovered without the therapeutics he received to combat his own COVID-19 illness.
"Now I am free, I feel perfect, I am not taking anything. I am off", Trump told radio anchor Rush Limbaugh.
The US president added that earlier in the day, he met 11 administering doctors who showed him "amazing stats".
The statement comes after Trump announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump had contracted COVID-19. The US president was admitted to hospital on 2 October for treatment and was released on 5 October to continue recovering at the White House.
Trump was treated with the remdesivir antiviral treatment, an 8-gramme dose of Regeneron's polyclonal antibody cocktail, and the steroid drug dexamethasone.
A COVID-19 patient usually needs a five-day treatment course of six vials of remdesivir.
In July, the US biotechnology company Regeneron won a $450 million contract to mass-produce up to 300,000 doses of a drug to treat COVID-19.
According to the company, its COVID-19 investigational anti-viral antibody treatment, REGN-COV2, consists of two antibodies cloned from mice with their immune systems genetically altered to mimic humans. The drug is undergoing advanced clinical trials for two possible uses - to treat COVID-19 infections and to prevent the disease, Regeneron said.
