(INDIANAPOLIS) — A coronavirus treatment granted emergency approval isn’t the magic bullet to stop the pandemic, but it has potential to save some critically ill patients.
Community Health Network has given about 100 patients plasma from people who have already recovered from COVID-19, as part of a Mayo Clinic trial. The theory is that the plasma is loaded with antibodies which can recognize and fight the infection. A similar approach has been successful in the past against other viruses, including SARS, MERS and bird flu. The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency approval to the treatment over the weekend.
Community Health chief medical officer Robin Ledyard says the treatment has worked in about a third of the cases. But she says it’s only useful in limited circumstances — it’s given to patients in intensive care, within three days of showing symptoms. And Ledyard notes one of the challenges of coronavirus is that its symptoms often are mild enough early on that patients shrug them off until they’ve already been sick for four-to-six days.
Ledyard says the FDA approval won’t change the way Community administers the therapy — it was already doing so in all cases which fit the protocol. But she says the approval serves as a stamp of approval.
Some scientists have said they’re concerned about the lack of a randomized trial to confirm the effectiveness of the approach. Ledyard says she’s as confident in the therapy as she can be, given the newness of the virus. She says while convalescent plasma fails more often than it works, it has the advantage of a minimal downside. Transfusions can cause illness, but it’s rare. In trials on 20,000 patients nationwide, Ledyard says 13 deaths have been blamed on the plasma therapy.
