MACON, Ga. — After President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday and was taken to Walter Reed Hospital, part of his treatment were doses of Remdesivir and Dexamethasone, along with an experimental antibody treatment.
Doctors in Central Georgia are using some of those same drugs to help treat COVID-19 patients at Navicent Health and Coliseum Medical Centers.
They say the treatments are by no means a cure, but they have seen some success in their COVID-19 patients.
Both hospitals received their first doses of Remdesivir back in the spring. It was studied at Emory University and found to be effective against COVID-19. It helps block the virus from replicating in the body.
"It was initially given to people who are not the very sick, but not the very well. Kind of moderate and it does make some difference in length of stay," said Dr. Jeff Stephens, an Infectious Disease Specialist at Navicent.
He says there is more data to back Remdesivir's effectiveness than some other possible COVID-19 treatments.
"It does have some benefit. Now I have seen people who after a day or so on it seem to do a lot better but it's always… remember, correlation does not equal causation," said Stephens. "It's quite a safe drug."
He says it was initially developed to fight Ebola.
Dr. Jennifer Hoffman, an Infectious Disease Specialist with Coliseum, says doctors should give Remdesivir by day seven or 10 before the body moves into the inflammatory stage.
"My impression is that it helps, it's certainly not a silver bullet by any means. I think it helps somewhat, especially if it's given kind of earlier in the course of the illness," said Hoffman. "You’re going from the viral replication phase into the inflammatory phase of the illness and at that point, when the viral replication is no longer the predominant issue, I don’t think Remdesivir works very well."
Both doctors say they are focused on Remdesivir and Dexamethasone for their patients; the same drugs given to President Trump at Walter Reed Hospital.
"The only two things that really are the standard... are standard type things that we use at this time," said Stephens.
Dexamethasone is a common anti-inflammatory steroid that has been around for over 60 years.
Stephens and Hoffman say it's mainly used on people with a more severe case of the virus.
"It seems to help if you’re severely ill because people who are severely ill, part of what is making them so ill is that their body is kind of having an over exaggerated immune response to COVID, causing too much inflammation in the lungs and other places in the body," Hoffman said. "So by dampening down that immune response, you can actually help the patient."
Stephens says it helps with the stress the virus puts on your body.
"The anti-inflammatory steroids… your body makes those every day. When your body is under stress, not the stress of having a bad day, but stress of being ill, your body pours those out," he said.
As for the Regeneron antibody treatment Trump received while he was in the hospital... Hoffman says it is still very new with very little data.
"It's very experimental. It's only been given to, I think, a few hundred individuals," she said.
It is still undergoing a clinical trial and the company said in a news release they've seen evidence "it reduced viral load and the time to alleviate symptoms in non-hospitalized patients."
Hoffman says other treatments they've used on patients are blood thinners, convalescent plasma and heartburn medication.
Prone positioning can also help, which involves turning patients on their side or their stomach to help increase the amount of oxygen that's getting to their lungs.
She says these all depend on the patient and their symptoms.
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