USA allows Covid-19 treatment with blood plasma

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

The process has been known for over 100 years. However, evidence for the effectiveness of immune plasma treatment for Covid-19 is still poor. It is now to be used more frequently in the USA. President Trump celebrates this as a "breakthrough".

The US government is granting emergency approval for the treatment of Covid-19 with blood plasma containing antibodies against the coronavirus. In the so-called immune plasma therapy, patients receive plasma from people who had formed antibodies after a natural infection.

Plasma has been used for over 100 years and is considered safe for patients. So far, however, it is still unclear how effective plasma actually is in reducing the Covid mortality rate. The chief of the responsible Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Stephen Hahn, spoke of limited, but so far "promising" data on efficacy.

Trump celebrates "very historic breakthrough"

US President Donald Trump, who recently put public pressure on the agency to announce faster progress, described the emergency approval as a "very historic breakthrough". Trump's announcement on Sunday evening (local time) should come in handy: the Republican party convention begins on Monday evening, at which he will be officially nominated as a candidate for the November election this week.

The treatment method with plasma is already widespread in the USA. To speak of a breakthrough therefore seems rather exaggerated. According to the FDA, around 70,000 people have already received plasma as part of a special clinical license. In addition, the emergency approval does not correspond to a formal approval for which much higher hurdles apply. The supply of plasma is also limited, as it can only be obtained from blood donations from convalescent patients.

The move by the FDA will make trading in plasma easier and should help manufacturers to cover their costs, as former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb told ABC television in advance. But it was only a small step overall, he said.

No proof of effectiveness so far

The idea behind the plasma treatment is impressive: Because there is still no vaccine that stimulates the formation of antibodies against Sars-CoV-2, patients are given antibodies from people who have formed them after a natural infection. These antibodies remain in the body for at least a while after an infection. The antibodies can therefore be obtained from the blood of those recovered and then administered to those who are acutely ill - so that they also fight the virus in them and reduce the severity of the disease.

Studies are ongoing around the world on the process, including in Germany. So far, however, there is no convincing evidence as to whether and how much plasma Covid patients actually help.

Plasma could lower the death rate

In the United States, researchers have collected data from the Mayo Clinic's use of 35,000 patients, most of them seriously ill. Their previously unpublished study shows that patients who received a transfusion three days after being diagnosed with Covid-19 had a slightly lower mortality rate than those who were treated later. However, there was no control group in the study, so the results are of very limited use. Further studies, in which some of the test subjects only receive a placebo, are still ongoing.

The corona pandemic remains completely out of control in the United States. The authorities have so far reported around 5.7 million confirmed infections with the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen. Almost 177,000 people died. (lv / dpa)

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