Don’t give up on plasma therapy
Researchers yesterday called for more research into using blood from recovered Covid-19 patients - or so-called convalescent plasma - as a potential treatment, after a small trial of hospitalised patients in India found it was of no benefit
The Indian results, published in the BMJ British Medical Journal, found that the plasma, which delivers antibodies from COVID-19 survivors to infected people, did not help hospitalised patients fight off the infection, and failed to reduce death rates or halt progression to severe disease.
The findings are a setback for a potential therapy that US President Donald Trump touted in August as a "historic breakthrough", and one experts say has been used in some 100,000 patients in the US already, despite limited evidence on its efficacy.
Scientists not directly involved in the India study, which involved around 460 patients, said its results were disappointing but should not mean doctors give up hope altogether on convalescent plasma.
They said further and larger trials are needed, including in COVID-19 patients with milder disease and those newly infected.
While the United States and India have authorised convalescent plasma for emergency use, other countries, including Britain, are collecting donated plasma so that the treatment could be widely rolled out if it is shown to be effective.
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