As the world seeks a Covid-19 panacea, treating patients with plasma harvested from those who have recovered from the virus is being touted as a possible cure – but big challenges still remain

As the world seeks a Covid-19 panacea, treating patients with plasma harvested from those who have recovered from the virus is being touted as a possible cure – but big challenges still remain, scientists say.

It’s been months since the novel coronavirus started to rage across China, spilling over to other countries and infecting more than a million people around the world, but there is still no clinically tested vaccine or medication. However, one possible treatment that has been around for over a century is attracting attention, with some scientists suggesting it could be a game-changer – provided that certain flaws are removed.

What is this plasma treatment about?

The approach basically revolves around harvesting convalescent plasma, the yellowish liquid component of human blood, from someone who recovered from a viral infection and transfusing it to a newly infected patient.

Plasma is essential here because it is rich in antibodies – proteins that bind to parts of the virus and neutralize it. Remarkably, antibodies are produced against specific types of viruses, effectively becoming an “anti-virus serum,” Aleksey Kupryashov, head of blood transfusion at Bakulev Center of Cardiovascular Surgery, explained to RT. 

Moreover, plasma is more useful than blood itself “because you don’t have to take care about the blood type,” explained Sergey Netesov, a leading virologist and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The idea behind the therapy is very straightforward – sharing antibodies taken from patients with a robust immune system could help other, weaker ones to recover.

Conceptualized by German physiologist Emil von Behring – the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine – the method has actually been around for over a century. Just recently, in mid-March, Arturo Casadevall of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Liise-anne Pirofski of the Albert Einstein Medical College championed the treatment, claiming infusions of antibodies could potentially protect people from the virus for several weeks.

Later in the same month, their Chinese colleagues suggested that convalescent plasma had helped Covid-19 patients even on ventilation, but their study was based on only five cases.

Who sees promise in plasma therapy?

Health authorities around the world have high hopes for plasma treatment, rapidly rolling out trials and authorizing it for compassionate use – allowing unapproved treatments to be prescribed if a dying patient has no other options, and if the potential benefits outweigh the risks.

In the US, where the number of coronavirus cases has now exceeded 312,000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has spearheaded “a new national effort” to facilitate the use of plasma treatment. “There are some limited data to suggest that convalescent plasma and hyperimmune globulin may have benefit in the Covid-19 illness,” the agency states.

The Mayo Clinic will serve as the lead institution for the program, while the American Red Cross will collect plasma and distribute it to hospitals throughout the country.

In the UK, coronavirus patients are about to receive the experimental treatment, with experts calling on the NHS to urgently stockpile antibody-rich plasma for such needs. France is also set to start trials for the promising therapy next Tuesday.

Russia, too, is catching up with the trend. The country’s famed Sklifosovsky Institute of Emergency Care will be the first to try infusing plasma in the coming days, local media have reported. Additionally, the Vector Institute – a leading research center of virology and biotechnology – has developed a test for measuring antibodies in those who have survived Covid-19. The institution has already screened blood samples from 11 people who recovered from the virus, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said. 

Iran, recently a coronavirus hotspot, will also follow suit, as will Turkey, where the head of the Red Crescent insists that it could become “one of the world’s most effective applications” against the contagion.

For the time being, many other treatment options are being considered by the international healthcare community, ranging from anti-malarial drugs to HIV medication. A range of Covid-19 vaccines are also being developed, although they seem to be months – if not years – away from being commissioned.