Houston Chronicle by Todd Ackerman April 9, 2020
The experimental therapy transfusing the blood plasma of people who have recovered from COVID-19 into patients fighting the disease is coming to more Houston-area hospitals.
Baylor College of Medicine and the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center are partnering to make the potentially therapeutic plasma available to hospitals that get the Food and Drug Administration’s permission to transfuse it into patients. Baylor will screen and test interested donors and the blood center will collect the plasma and get it to hospitals.
“We’re creating a community resource so that more hospitals can use this treatment,†said Dr. Ashok Balasubramanyam, senior associate dean for academic affairs patients at Baylor. “This will ensure there’s a seamless process for hospitals to get a good product made by the blood center.â€
The Houston medical school quietly has transfused such plasma into five patients at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. Through the partnership, enabled by a newly approved FDA study, the Houston medical school will collect data on how patients fare and on the therapy and report the findings to the FDA.
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