US to Approve 'Plasma Therapy' for Severe COVID-19 Patients

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it plans to authorize 'plasma therapy' related to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

On the 24th (local time), The Hill, a U.S. congressional news outlet, reported that the FDA is expected to permit the use of plasma donated by recovered COVID-19 patients to treat critically ill patients, given that there is no vaccine officially approved as a treatment for COVID-19.

Plasma therapy involves extracting plasma from recovered patients and injecting it into other patients. Plasma is the liquid component of blood that contains blood cells, and the plasma of recovered patients contains a large amount of antibodies. It is known that injecting these antibodies into critically ill patients produces therapeutic effects.

Plasma therapy was first attempted during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and showed effectiveness in alleviating symptoms and reducing hospitalization periods during the 2002 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Additionally, NBC reported that it is currently showing effectiveness in treating COVID-19 in China.

However, the FDA stated that since plasma therapy has not been definitively proven effective for treating COVID-19, clinical trials must be conducted before its use in treatment.

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