Blood plasma from coronavirus survivors could help treat new patients, scientists say
The Food and Drug Administration said this week that it’s “facilitating access” to use donated blood plasma from coronavirus survivors to treat patients, according to CNN.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that his state is pursuing the treatment in clinical trials, CNN reported.
Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan began collecting blood donated from people who recovered from COVID-19 on Thursday, according to NBC Washington. Scientists say they plan to use the treatment, known as “human convalescent plasma,” on other patients.
“It’s kind of difficult scientifically to know how valuable it is in any disease until you try,” Dr. David L. Reich, president and chief operating officer of Mount Sinai Hospital, told The New York Times. “It’s not exactly a shot in the dark, but it’s not tried and true.”
Reich said convalescent plasma treatment would be used for patients with a “moderate form of the disease and trouble breathing,” but not in patients with “advanced stages of the disease,” according to The New York Times.
After a person recovers from coronavirus, there are still antibodies in the blood for months or years that were created to fight the virus, according to NBC Washington. The treatment would give patients the antibodies to try to fight the illness.
Treating patients with convalescent plasma was studied during the swine flu outbreak, the SARS outbreak, and the 2012 MERS epidemic, the FDA said in a news release.
“It is therefore important to determine through clinical trials, before routinely administering convalescent plasma to patients with COVID-19, that it is safe and effective to do so,” the FDA said.
