FDA head 'hopeful' about transfer of immunity from recovered coronavirus patients as treatment
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FDA head 'hopeful' about transfer of immunity from recovered coronavirus patients as treatment
By Michelle Williams | Michelle...@MassLive.com
3-4 minutes
The head of the Food and Drug Administration said he is hopeful about finding a treatment for coronavirus after federal health officials approved two treatments for emergency use.
Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, spoke Saturday during the White House coronavirus task force press briefing.
He highlighted a program that uses convalescent plasma as a way to treat COVID-19 patients.
The program collects blood plasma from people who have recovered from the novel coronavirus and transfers the immunoglobulins - antibodies produced by white blood cells and offer immunity - to help patients recover more rapidly.
Use of convalescent plasma has been studied in outbreaks of other respiratory infections, including the 2009-2010 swine flu outbreak and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).
“Although promising, convalescent plasma has not yet been shown to be effective in COVID-19,” the FDA said in a statement announcing the approval of convalescent plasma for emergency use. “It is therefore important to determine through clinical trials, before routinely administering convalescent plasma to patients with COVID-19, that it is safe and effective to do so.”
Hahn said there is a “great deal of enthusiasm” for the program, which has shown promise in other countries.
The treatment has been approved for a handful of critically ill COVID-19 patients in the United States.
Last week, the FDA approved the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19.
Hahn emphasized that the drug was to be used only after being prescribed by a doctor.
The antimalarial drug is regularly prescribed for patients with autoimmune diseases, including lupus, and to prevent malaria.
Laboratory studies have shown that the drug blocked the coronavirus from entering cells, however health officials stress that the drug should only be prescribed by a doctor and is being studied in clinical trials.
President Donald Trump expressed his hopefulness about the potential for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus and said the country has 29 million doses available for hospitals.
“We’re just hearing really positive stories,” Trump said Saturday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has warned that Americans shouldn’t assume the drug can prevent getting COVID-19.
“We still need to do the definitive studies to determine whether any intervention, not just this one, is truly safe and effective,” Fauci said Friday in an interview on Fox News. “But when you don’t have that information, it’s understandable why people might want to take something anyway even with the slightest hint of being effective.”
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