President Donald Trump has asked “leading” U.S. pharmaceutical companies working on experimental COVID-19 treatments to “contact London” and offer help to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is in intensive care after testing positive for the novel coronavirus last month.
“They have arrived in London already. Their London office has whatever they need and we’ll see if we can be of help,” said Trump at a press briefing on Monday, referring to two of “the leading companies.”
The president did not name the companies but mentioned they had done work on other viruses: “Ebola, AIDS, others, they’ve come with the solutions and they have done incredible jobs,” he said. “I’ve asked them to contact London immediately. They have offices in London—major companies—but more than major, more than size, they’re genius.”
RELATED: Without data, but with Trump praise, FDA issues emergency nod for chloroquine in COVID-19
He said later in the briefing that he had spoken with the heads of four biopharma companies: Amgen, Genentech, Gilead and Regeneron.
When asked by a reporter what sort of treatment the companies were offering, Trump said: “It’s a very complex treatment of things that they’ve just recently developed, and that they have a lot of experience with having to do with something else, but recent for this.”
“They’ve already had meetings with [Johnson’s] doctors and we’ll see whether or not they want to go that route. But when you’re in intensive care, it’s a big deal. So, they’re there and they’re ready,” he added.