REGENERON CEO: TRUMP’S CASE ‘WEAKEST EVIDENCE’ FOR COVID TREATMENT

Regeneron chief executive Leonard Schleifer said President Donald Trump's treatment with the company's experimental antibody cocktail is "a case of one," but stressed ongoing clinical trials still need to show its efficacy, Connor O’Brien reported for Politico. 

"The president's case is a case of one, and that's what we call a case report, and it is evidence of what's happening, but it's kind of the weakest evidence that you can get," Schleifer said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." 

Schleifer added that there were "some very interesting aspects" in Trump's case, such as his age. He also noted that the president "had some risk factors," and that Trump "did not have his own immune system in gear when he was sick and he got treated" with Regeneron's treatment. Schleifer is known to be friends with the Trump family. His statement disproves the claim of Trump that he already has immunity to COVID and is not contagious despite his frequent coughing, which indicates congestion in his lungs. 

He added that Trump‘s case is "perhaps the most analyzed case report ever" but is "just low down on the evidence scale that we really need." He noted that clinical trials are the standard for whether it's effective. "The real evidence has to come about how good a drug is and what it will do on average has to come from these large clinical trials, these randomized clinical trials, which are the gold standard. And those are ongoing," Schleifer said. "We've got some preliminary evidence that we've talked with the FDA, and we're going for an emergency use authorization, because we think it's appropriate at this time."