Is President Trump’s “Illness” Really a Commercial for Regeneron’s New COVID Drug?

The same day it was announced that President Trump was tested positive for COVID, it was immediately announced that the President was being administered a new experimental COVID drug, Regeneron's REGN-COV2. Business journals apparently already had press releases ready about the drug, and the company's stock immediately went up on Friday. FiercePharma, one the Pharmaceutical companies' main marketing trade publications, was one of the first to publish the story: "In a bombshell development Thursday, President Donald J. Trump tested positive for COVID-19, sending shockwaves through the country with just weeks until Election Day. One unanswered question was how the president's physicians would navigate an uncertain treatment course—and an unproven antibody cocktail from Regeneron is now in the spotlight. Trump's personal doctor confirmed Friday that the president was treated with an 8-gram dose of Regeneron's investigational antibody cocktail for COVID-19, dubbed REGN-COV2, along with aspirin and famotidine, better known as branded Pepcid. He's also taking zinc and vitamin D, two typical immune-boosting supplements. Trump's early treatment with Regeneron's cocktail was an immediate boon for investors with the drugmaker's stock trading up around $20—or 3%—in after-market hours Friday. An eventual clean bill of health for Trump could go a long way to boosting confidence in Regeneron's therapy, which is already raising hopes of $6 billion in sales per year—assuming it can secure the FDA's approval." Regeneron does not even have emergency use approval yet. FiercePharma also reports that Regeneron's CEO Len Schleifer has been a guest at the White House during the pandemic.