US authorizes emergency use of blood plasma treatment for Covid-19 patients
U.S. officials on Sunday announced an emergency permit for doctors to treat patients with the coronavirus using blood plasma from recovered patients as a treatment for the disease, which has killed more than 176,000 people in the United States.
The announcement comes a day after President Donald Trump accused the FDA of obstructing vaccines and medical treatment for political reasons, and on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention, where he will start his campaign for a second term in White House.
"This is what I've been looking forward to doing for a long time," the president told reporters on Sunday.
"I'm pleased to make a truly historic announcement in our battle against the China virus that will save countless lives."
What is Blood Plasma?
When people fall diseased with Covid-19, their immune systems produce antibodies to fight the disease. These antibody proteins float in their blood plasma - the liquid part of blood that suspends blood cells.
Doctors preserve the plasma, test for safety, and then purify it to separate these antibodies. these antibodies can be injected into another patient with covid 19, these antibodies can help fight infection until the patient's own immune system develops its own antibodies.
"This product may be effective in treating COVID-19 and... the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product," FDA said in a statement.
The FDA said that people under the age of 80 who were not on a respirator and received plasma with high levels of antibodies had a 35% better survival rate after one month of treatment compared to those who had low levels of antibodies in plasma.
"It appeared that the product is safe and we're comfortable with that and we continue to see no concerning safety signals," said Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told a news conference, "There are a number of clinical trials going on around the world looking at convalescent plasma compared to the standard of care. Only a few of them have actually reported interim results... and at the moment, it's still very low quality evidence."
The FDA has already approved plasma transfusions for patients with coronavirus under certain conditions, such as clinical trial and severely ill people.
According to The Washington Post over 70,000 virus patients in the US have received such a transfusion.
Trump has been widely criticized for tackling the corona virus pandemic in the United States, which is a world leader in infections and deaths.
Without any effective treatment or expectation of vaccine before the November 3 vote, he faces a tough challenge from democratic leader Joe Biden.
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