FDA Okays Historic Blood Treatment for COVID; Clinical Trials to Use Antibodies From Recovered PatientsAs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) works to facilitate expedited access to several investigative drug interventions to treat COVID-19 patients, one particularly promising treatment is now set to enter clinical trials in New York.
The convalescent plasma treatment involves drawing blood plasma out of an individual who has recovered from and built up an immunity to COVID-19, testing the blood for the related antibody, and then injecting it into a sick patient so that the antibody can theoretically attack the virus for its new host.
“Use of convalescent plasma has been studied in outbreaks of other respiratory infections, including the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza virus pandemic, 2003 SARS-CoV-1 epidemic, and the 2012 MERS-CoV epidemic,†writes the FDA.
“Although promising, convalescent plasma has not been shown to be effective in every disease studied,†they continued. “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.â€...........
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-york-to-deploy-covid-plasma-treatment/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_medium=weekly_mailout&utm_source=30-03-2020
