Experimental drug helped critically ill emergency room doctor recover from COVID-19
by Kara Kostanich, KOMO News Reporter
Thursday, April 9th 2020
...
He was first treated at Evergreen Hospital and was then moved to Swedish where doctors tried an experimental drug called Actemra.
Swedish Hospital said they believe the experimental drug helped Padgett recover.
“It would be fair to say we have treated patients with this medicine who have gotten quite ill and gotten better,” said Dr. Krish Patel who is the director of the lymphoma program at Swedish Cancer Institute First Hill.
The drug is showing promise in COVID patients whose bodies have a vigorous immune response to the virus.
“We do know when the immune system is overactive is can make the patient very sick in a short amount of time,” said Patel.
