FDA opens door to emer­gency use of con­va­les­cent plas­ma from re­cov­ered Covid-19 pa­tients

One po­ten­tial treat­ment for Covid-19, known as con­va­les­cent plas­ma, may be de­rived from pa­tients who have al­ready re­cov­ered from the dis­ease, and the FDA said Tues­day that it will help to pro­vide ac­cess to it for pa­tients with se­ri­ous or im­me­di­ate­ly life-threat­en­ing Covid-19 in­fec­tions.

The idea be­hind the treat­ment is that plas­ma col­lect­ed from pa­tients re­cov­er­ing from Covid-19 may con­tain an­ti­bod­ies to the virus that might be ef­fec­tive against the in­fec­tion. New York Gov. An­drew Cuo­mo (D) said yes­ter­day that some crit­i­cal­ly ill pa­tients would be able to ac­cess con­va­les­cent plas­ma in some cas­es.

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