Experts say the treatment might be the best hope for some patients until more sophisticated drugs are developed.
The Food and Drug Administration will allow
doctors across the country to begin using plasma donated by coronavirus
survivors to treat patients who are critically ill with the virus, under
new emergency protocols approved Tuesday.
The FDA’s decision comes a day after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced
that the state’s health department planned to begin treating the
sickest coronavirus patients with antibody-rich plasma extracted from
the blood of those who’ve recovered.
The
treatment, known as convalescent plasma, dates back centuries and was
used during the flu pandemic of 1918, in an era before modern vaccines
and antiviral drugs. Some experts have argued that it might be the best
hope for combating the coronavirus until more sophisticated therapies
can be developed, which could take several months.
More @ NBC
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