Trump’s Golf Buddy Owns the ‘Miracle Drug’ Company He Touts

Video by The Lincoln Project.

After returning from Walter Reed’s deluxe Presidential Suite to another exclusive, publicly-funded clinic at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Donald Trump hyped an experimental antibody cocktail he’s on. It’s called REGN-COV2, but he thinks it’s called Regeneron, since that’s the name of the firm that makes it. Regeneron’s CEO, Dr. Leonard Schleifer, is Mr. Trump’s golf buddy and Westchester neighbor.

In a remarkable coincidence, Regeneron was awarded a $450 million contract to manufacture and supply a few thousand doses of the antibody treatment as part of “Operation Warp Speed,” the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine program. REGN-COV2 is not a vaccine, it’s a monoclonal antibody cocktail. REGN-COV2 is still in trials, and has not been approved for use by the FDA. Even if the the drug cocktail is proven effect in treating or preventing COVID-19, there is no way a monoclonal antibody drug could be produced in sufficient quantities to be broadly available to America, let alone the world, meaning it might just go to the rich and powerful. Even though Trump didn’t pay for his antibody treatments, don’t think you’ll get them for free.

After the president’s White House infomercial, Regeneron’s stock price is surging.

More:

“Trump pushes FDA to quickly clear coronavirus antibody treatments, erroneously calling them a ‘cure,’” Carolyn Y. Johnson, Laurie McGinley and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post

“Trump is promising free antibody treatments for everyone. It won’t be that simple.” Zachary Brennan, Politico

“Regeneron execs go on a whirlwind media tour after Trump takes COVID-19 antibody cocktail,” Beth Snyder Bulik, Fierce Pharma

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