- HEK 293T cells are a cell line originally derived from the kidney tissue of a fetus aborted in the Netherlands in the 1970s.
- Those cells are used to test potency. They don't end up in the final product, but they're a part of the testing process.
Per Regeneron:
The cells "were used in testing the antibody candidates' ability to neutralize the virus" and helped researchers "determine the 'best' two antibodies, which now make up the REGN-COV2 cocktail."
That's at odds with how the White House has previously handled pharmaceutical research using tissue from aborted fetuses.
Last year, the Trump Admin banned funding for medical research by gov't scientists using human fetal tissue.
It was a major win for anti-abortion groups.
Now, Trump is the antibody cocktail's biggest cheerleader.
On Wednesday, Trump referred to it as a "cure" to COVID and promised he was going to make it free and available to everyone who needed it.
Trump said it was a "blessing from God" that he contracted the virus so he could find the drug:
"I think this was a blessing from God that I caught [the virus], I think it was a blessing in disguise... I heard about this drug. I said, 'Let me take it'… and it was incredible..."
Join me tomorrow at CBSN at 1p ET where I’ll be talking about Trump’s co-called COVD “cure” and how the therapeutic he’s touting was tested using cell derived from fetal tissue, a practice his administration has opposed.
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I'm looking into everything the candidates have to say about abortion rights, women's health and if the moderator #askaboutabortion. Follow along on this thread 👇👇👇
First topic is Supreme Court! I imagine we'll be getting to Roe v Wade sooner than later! Buckle up!
Biden says Roe v Wade is "at stake right now."
President appears to reject that, saying that we don't know how Amy Coney Barrett feels about Roe v. Wade and that abortion isn't on the ballot.
Full comment:
“When we talk about third trimester abortions … it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that is non-viable. If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered....
... The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
In the past month I spoke to dozens of Black families to find out why they weren't comfortable with in-person learning.
This was the common thread:
Black families have been given a lot of reasons not to trust the system. Why would they trust it now?
From one mom:
"Black moms don't really feel heard. We haven't been given a lot of reason to trust the system. Why would we trust it now, and with our most precious thing: our child."
We have new guidance from the CDC on how COVID-19 impacts pregnancy.
The CDC has released v limited info on this. After they published their 1st report, an HHS official rebuked them & said the report "reads in a way to frighten women."
- Among the 445 births during the study, 12.6% of were preterm deliveries
- That's more than 25% higher than the rate of preterm delivery for the general U.S. population
10 of the 445 COVID-19 patients also experienced either a miscarriage or a stillbirth, but the report noted that the it "likely underestimates the percentage of pregnancy losses that occur among women with COVID-19."