A newly approved treatment with some history of success could offer hope for the sickest of the country’s COVID-19 patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of convalescent plasma therapy as an experimental treatment in clinical trials and for critically ill COVID-19 patients without other treatment options. The therapy, which takes antibodies from the blood of a person who has recovered from a virus and transfuses those antibodies into a person sick with that virus, has long been used as a way to help kickstart a person’s immune system. Since the March 24 FDA approval, 11 critically ill COVID-19 patients in New York City and Houston received experimental treatment using convalescent care. The results of those cases have not been reported yet. The therapy has also been used in other parts of the world.
Citations: Lord, Debbie; Cox Media Group National Content Desk (April 9th, 2020). Coronavirus: What is convalescent plasma therapy?. Kiro 7. Retrieved April 9th, 2020.