On August 23, 2020, the FDA authorized the emergency use of convalescent plaza as a treatment for COVID-19 patients.

However, this approval does not mean that the treatment has final approval for use against COVID-19 nor that it is a standard of care for the disease. But, significantly, the treatment can reduce the severity or the duration of the disease in hospitalized patients, and early data has been promising in patient care and treatment. Thousands of patients have been treated with plasma since March, and the new emergency authorization will make it easier for sick patients to receive the treatment.

Use of convalescent plasma against disease is not a novel approach; it has been used since the late 1800s to treat diphtheria, pandemic flu, and chickenpox.

Convalescent plasma is extracted from the blood of patients that have recovered from COVID-19 and contains antibodies against the virus. To date, the treatment has only been tested in small groups of patients rather than larger, placebo-controlled clinical trials, and more ongoing randomized clinical trials are needed.

Data has shown that patients have a lower death rate if they received plasma within three days of their diagnosis than later.

According to Elliott Bennett-Guerrero, who is studying the use of the plasma in COVID-19 patients at Stony Brook Medicine, “with plasma we’re leveraging the body’s amazing ability to develop antibodies and immunity to pathogens…we transfer those protective factors to people who are sick and haven’t been able to mount an immune response.”

Additionally, studies focus on whether providing the plasma to healthy individuals could prevent them from getting sick if contracting the virus.

People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 are encouraged to donate plasma to further these treatments and studies.

Sources: fda.gov; The Verge, August 25, 2020