Ben Carson says he's 'out of the woods' after taking an unproven coronavirus treatment recommended by the MyPillow CEO
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said he is feeling better after a weekslong battle with the coronavirus.
- Carson said he used an extract from a toxic plant to fight the disease, at the recommendation of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
- Lindell does not have a background in medicine or science.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said on Friday that he is "out of the woods" after fighting the coronavirus using an unproven treatment.
Carson tested positive for the virus earlier this month, after having attended a White House election watch party. Over the past few weeks, Carson has been relying on an experimental treatment to deal with the virus.
"I was extremely sick and initially took Oleander 4X with dramatic improvement," he said in a Facebook post on Friday. Oleander is an extract taken from a toxic plant. Carson said he used the extract at the recommendation of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who doesn't have a background in either medicine or science. Lindell, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has been pushing the extract as a cure for the coronavirus for months.
Carson, 69 and a neurosurgeon, added in the Facebook post that he was authorized to receive the same treatment Trump had upon testing positive for the coronavirus in October.
"I have several co-morbidities and after a brief period when I only experienced minor discomfort, the symptoms accelerated and I became desperately ill," Carson said. "President Trump was following my condition and cleared me for the monoclonal antibody therapy that he had previously received, which I am convinced saved my life."
The treatment, created by the biotech company Regeneron, is experimental and has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Regeneron asked the FDA in October to authorize its treatment as an option for emergency use.
"President Trump, the fabulous White House medical team, and the phenomenal doctors at Walter Reed have been paying very close attention to my health and I do believe I am out of the woods at this point," Carson added. "I am hopeful that we can stop playing politics with medicine and instead combine our efforts and goodwill for the good of all people."
Read more: We made a graphic to show just how bad the COVID-19 outbreaks in Trump's circle are
There are two coronavirus vaccines that have proven to have a high success rate at combating the coronavirus. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer and biotech group Moderna announced earlier this month that they've developed vaccines with at least a 94.5% success rate at preventing the coronavirus in clinical trials.
In recent weeks, several people within Trump's orbit announced they tested positive for the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist, said he actively avoids going to the White House because "of all the infections there."
The coronavirus has infected more than 11.9 million Americans, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Of that, more than 254,000 people have died from the disease.
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