Advertisement

Trump Announces Emergency Approval For COVID-19 Plasma Treatment

President Donald Trump said Sunday that U.S. regulators have given an emergency use authorization for a coronavirus treatment involving blood plasma donated by people who have recovered from the disease.

“This is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection,” Trump told reporters at a White House news briefing. “We’re removing unnecessary barriers and delays, not by cutting corners, but by marshaling the full power of the federal government.”

The authorization allows for the distribution of COVID-19 convalescent plasma in the U.S. and for health care providers to administer it as appropriate to treat patients hospitalized with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.

Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that he is “committed to releasing safe and potentially helpful treatments for COVID-19 as quickly as possible in order to save lives.”

“In the independent judgment of experts and expert scientists at the FDA ― who have reviewed the totality of data, not just the data from this expanded access program, but more than a dozen published studies, as well as the historical experience associated with this ― those scientists have concluded that COVID-19 convalescent plasma is safe, ensures promising efficacy, thereby meeting the criteria for emergency use authorization,” Hahn said at the briefing.

The authorization comes after the FDA put the convalescent plasma approval on hold in response to concerns from top federal health officials, including Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci, The New York Times...

Continue reading on HuffPost