Prognosis

Why Trump’s Covid-19 Antibody Cocktail Won’t Be Widely Available

Donald Trump gestures during a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Oct. 14. Trump touted Regeneron’s antibody cocktail as a cure and key to his recovery, saying he would make the drugs he took available for free to Americans.

Photographer: Rachel Mummey/Bloomberg
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The antibody cocktail U.S. President Donald Trump credited for his swift coronavirus recovery won’t become widely available because it’s impossible to make enough for everyone who might need it, according to the Swiss pharmaceutical giant working on scaling up production.

“We’ll never be able to produce enough,” said Bill Anderson, drugs chief at Roche Holding AG, which is working together with U.S. biotech Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. on the project. “This is clearly part of the answer for the world, not the answer. Hopefully we’ll have vaccines and other therapeutics.”