Regenerative plasma has been used to treat diseases for at least a hundred years, dating back to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
It has also been diagnosed in the 2009-2010 H1N1 flu pandemic virus, the 2003 SARS infection, and the 2012 MERS epilepsy.
Convalescent plasma was used as a last resort to improve the survival rate of patients with SARS and their condition continued to decline.
It has been proven to be ‘effective and life-saving’ against other diseases, such as rabies and diphtheria, said Dr Mike Ryan, of the World Health Organization.
‘It’s a very important area to follow,’ said Dr Ryan.
While promising, convalescent plasma has not been shown to be effective in all diseases studied, the FDA says.
Is it already used for COVID-19 patients?
Before it can be routinely given to patients with COVID-19, it is important to determine its safety and efficacy through clinical trials.
The FDA said they were ‘enabling access’ to use the treatment on patients with endangered or immediate COVID-19 infections.
It came after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said plasma would be tested there to treat the sickest of the state’s coronavirus patients.
COVID-19 patients in Beijing, Wuhan and Shanghai are being treated with this method, authorities report.
Lu Hongzhou, a professor and co-director of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, said in February that the hospital had set up a dedicated clinic to deliver plasma therapy and was selecting patients willing to donate.
‘We are positive that this approach can be very effective in our patients,’ he said.
Meanwhile, the head of a hospital in Wuhan said plasma ingestion from recovered patients showed some encouraging initial results.
The MHRA has approved the use of the medicine in the UK, but it has not been announced which hospitals have already tried it.
How does it work?
Blood banks make good plasma donations as do whole blood donations; regular plasma is used in hospitals and emergency rooms every day.
If someone donates plasma only, the blood is drawn through a tube, the plasma is separated and the rest is taken into the donor’s body.
That plasma is then tested and purified to make sure it does not harbor blood-borne viruses and is safe to use.
For COVID-19 research, people who got the coronavirus would donate.
Scientists would measure how many antibodies are in a given unit of plasma – just developed tests that are not available to the public – because they find out what it is. the good dose, and how often a survivor could give.
There is also the possibility that asymptomatic patients – those who did not show symptoms or become ill – may be able to give up. But these ‘silent carriers’ have to be found through tests first.
Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda is working on a drug that contains recovered patient antibodies in pill form, Stat News reported.
Could it work as a vaccine?
As scientists race to develop the COVID-19 vaccine, blood plasma treatment may provide temporary protection to the most vulnerable in the same way.
Vaccines train people’s immune systems to make their own antibodies against a target germ. The plasma injection method would give people a temporary view of someone else’s antibodies that are short-lived and require regular doses.
If the U.S. regulator approves the FDA, a second study would provide full antibody plasma intake to certain individuals at high risk from regular exposures to COVID-19, such as hospital staff or first responders, said Dr. Liise-anne Pirofski of Montefiore Health in New York. Albert Einstein System and College of Medicine.
That could also include nursing homes when a resident becomes ill, hoping to offer some protection to the others in the home, she said.