Reid credits experimental drug for cancer recovery
WASHINGTON — Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid credited an experimental drug for his recovery from pancreatic cancer during a television interview on Thursday.
Reid, 80, told the Review-journal and other national and local media outlets last year that his pancreatic cancer was in remission.
On Thursday, during an interview with Fox Business News, he elaborated and said an experimental drug and treatment by Dr. Patrick Soonshiong eliminated his cancer with minimal side effects.
“I feel like a million bucks,”
Reid told “Mornings with
Maria” in the cable television interview.
Soon-shiong’s company, Immunitybio in El Segundo, California, and Nantkwest
Inc. have been selected by the Department of Health and
Human services to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.
There are other companies working with the federal government in a program called Operation Warp Speed to rush a vaccine to public use to fight the coronavirus.
Soon-shiong — who in addition to his pharmaceutical companies has owned the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-tribune since 2018 — said the process develops a killer cell in the body to attack the virus. He said it has been used to fight different types of cancer.
Reid said the process has left him feeling great. He called Soon-shiong a genius and said the treatment would give hope to others suffering life-threatening diseases.
“Cancer’s a bad word, but don’t let it get you down,” he said.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@ reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.