Plasma Treatment

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Anchor lead: What is the status of using plasma from people who’ve recovered to treat COVID-19? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Using plasma from people who’ve recovered from an infection to treat those who are currently sick with it is a time-honored practice, with some patients with COVID-19 being treated this way. Is this treatment poised for prime time? Arturo Casadevall, an expert in antibody treatments at Johns Hopkins, comments.

Casadevall: The issue that we’ve been facing is when is the FDA going to provide clear recommendations? They have not done so because they’re trying to find what is called a regulatory angle. The problem that they face is that every single unit of plasma is different. If you recover from COVID, if I recover from COVID and we both donate, what we are donating is different, and so the government, the regulators would like to find a way to standardize, to say you should only use units that have this, and that is where there is a tremendous amount of efforts going on.  :33

Casadevall believes such a recommendation is on the horizon. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.