New York Will Be First State to Test Treatment of Coronavirus with Blood from Recovered Patients | Virus World | Scoop.it
From www.nbcnews.com - March 24, 2020 2:31 AM

Hoping to stem the toll of the state’s surging coronavirus outbreak, New York health officials plan to begin collecting plasma from people who have recovered and injecting the antibody-rich fluid into patients still fighting the virus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the plans during a news briefing Monday. The treatment, known as convalescent plasma, dates back centuries and was used during the flu epidemic of 1918 — in an era before modern vaccines and antiviral drugs.

 

Some experts say the treatment, although somewhat primitive, might be the best hope for combating the coronavirus until more sophisticated therapies can be developed, which could take several months.  "There have been tests that show when a person is injected with the antibodies, that then stimulates and promotes their immune system against that disease," Cuomo said. "It's only a trial. It's a trial for people who are in serious condition, but the New York State Department of Health has been working on this with some of New York's best health care agencies, and we think it shows promise, and we're going to be starting that this week."

 

New York has seen a dramatic rise in coronavirus cases in recent days, with about 20,000 confirmed cases and more than 150 deaths as of Monday afternoon, more than in any other state. 

State health officials said they expect to get approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin the plasma trial in the coming days. A spokesman for the FDA confirmed to NBC News that the agency is "working expeditiously to facilitate the development and availability" of convalescent plasma. And at a White House briefing last week, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn singled out the treatment as a promising option to fight the disease in the near term.