No commercial products are available to treat COVID-19, but Mayo Clinic is gathering research for a therapy they think can help until then.
Convalescent plasma treatment has been used to help treat infections before other therapies like a vaccine can be developed to prevent the disease.
Dr. R. Scott Wright, professor of medicine, Director of Human Research Protection Program and chair of the Institutional Review Boards with Mayo Clinic, cites research from China and countries that have faced coronavirus earlier than the U.S. that the body builds up a “huge” immune response. He says using plasma with the antibodies of someone who has recovered and is without symptoms “and giving it to someone who’s actively hospitalized in it, we may -- not that we will for certain, but we may -- offer help to that patient and to their immune system to allow it to overwhelm COVID more quickly and neutralize COVID and eradicate COVID from their body and give them a fighting chance to recover more quickly.”
Wright says more than 1,600 hospitals nationwide have signed on to administer the plasma and nearly 2,300 former COVID patients have agreed to help. Some 750 currently infected have received convalescent plasma as of Monday evening.
“It’s been amazing to see hospitals in New York City that are using this, to see it being used across all ethnic groups and across all socioeconomic strata,” Wright said. “That it’s not just a therapy for those who have health insurance and those who don’t. In fact, the FDA has mandated that it be free to patients so there’s no charge.”
Wright says anyone who was diagnosed by a physician more than 21 days ago and is feeling well can sign up to donate plasma at a local blood bank.
