Convalescent plasma therapy in COVID-19: Unravelling the data using the principles of antibody therapy
This paper provides an overview of the effectiveness of convalescent plasma but differs from many previous meta-analyses and systematic reviews by critically examining studies in light of key biological principles of antibody therapy. Visit the news page for more comment.
News PageOn December 28th, 2021 the FDA authorized, for the first time, outpatient use of COVID-19 convalescent plasma. The announcement letter can be found here.
After receiving four letters signed by many physicians and scientists requesting that the NIH committee on COVID-19 therapeutics move away from its neutral position on COVID-19 convalescent plasma use, the committee met with our leadership team and with 6 past presidents of the Infectious Disease Society of America (ISDA) on Wednesday evening, May 17th. We had what in diplomacy is referred to as a frank exchange of views. The rationale for the NIH’s “neutral position” was presented by Dr. Pablo Tebas and our perspective was given by Dr. Michael Joyner. At the end of the hour and after considerable discussion including comments by several ISDA presidents, no decision had been reached (although we hope some minds had been changed), and we therefore wrote- a response to their concerns, to elaborate on our thoughts, and to continue the dialogue. That letter is posted here. We are hopeful that they will abandon their neutral stance on the benefits of convalescent plasma in immunocompromised patients.
UPDATE MARCH 31, 2023: Please consider signing the fourth open letter to the NIH. The petition can be found here.
Appeals to NIH
Appeals to WHO
As COVID-19 surges in the United States and around the world, we want to reiterate the following statements:- Convalescent plasma remains under EUA in the United States.
- Convalescent plasma is more effective when used early in treatment, research highlighting this can be found here and here.
- Local convalescent plasma is preferable to distantly sourced convalescent plasma.
- The COMPILE statistics team (members of the Division of Biostatistics at the Department of Population Health, and New York University Grossman School of Medicine) built a COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma treatment index tool to guide treatment decisions. The tool can be found in the Health Care Providers section of this website.