CT Coronavirus Update: Plasma Therapy Trial Approved For Patients
HARTFORD, CT — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a clinical trial Wednesday that will allow Trinity Health Of New England to conduct a study to test a therapy for the new coronavirus that uses plasma from recovering patients, officials announced. Trinity Health Of New England is one of four healthcare systems, including Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic, that received FDA approval for the clinical trial.
"The basic premise of this study is to utilize antibodies from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and inject them into those who are critically ill and on ventilator support," Syed Hussain, MD, chief clinical officer for Trinity Health Of New England, said in a statement. "We are committed to fighting this pandemic."
The prospective interventional study “evaluates the safety and efficacy of using convalescent plasma transfusion to critically ill patients with COVID-19,” according to a news release. One study from China reported in the Journal of American Medicine showed that five critically ill COVID-19 patients on ventilators significantly improved after treatment with convalescent plasma, the release states. Eventually three of those patients were discharged home.
"Thousands of people across the country are sick with COVID-19 and currently there are no vaccines and or proven therapies to combat this novel Coronavirus," said Danyal Ibrahim, MD, MPH, regional chief quality officer for Trinity Health Of New England. "However, plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients has the promise to be lifesaving, especially for the most critically ill."
“Our ability to conduct this trial will help us learn about the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma in the treatment of COVID-19," said Latha Dulipsingh MD, FACP, FACE, Chair, Institutional Review Board, Trinity Health Of New England. Ibrahim and Dulipsingh are the investigators on this study.
Trinity Health Of New England is an integrated nonprofit health care delivery system formed in 2015 and serves communities in 22 states. In Connecticut, Trinity Health Of New England is comprised of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center and Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Hartford, Johnson Memorial Hospital and Home & Community Health Services in Stafford Springs, and Saint Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury.
This article originally appeared on the Greater Hartford Patch
