The process involves taking the blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients and giving it to those fighting the disease.
“Our intention is to provide an option for the most seriously ill COVID-19 patients,” said Dr. Ashok Balasubramanyam, vice president for academic integration at Baylor College of Medicine in the release. “This effort would help patients in Houston, and aggregation of data would provide a much better look at whether this therapy is working and what adjustments could be made.”
Once a donor is approved, Baylor College of Medicine will turn its information over to Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, which will schedule the donation and collect the donor’s blood.
These will not be the first blood transfusions in Houston aimed at treating COVID-19. Houston Methodist Hospital was given the go-ahead March 28 by the Food and Drug Administration through an Emergency Investigational New Drug application to transfuse donated plasma, and St. Luke’s Medical Center has also performed several of the same procedures under the same applications.
Using that approval method, an application must be secured separately for treatment of each patient.
Baylor College of Medicine will, instead, treat patients through the FDA’s Expanded Access program, which, while requiring FDA submission of the treatment and review by an Institutional Review Board, is easier for the donors and recipients to be organized, according to the news release.
To be eligible to participate with Baylor College of Medicine’s transfusion study:
- COVID-19 convalescent plasma must only be collected from recovered individuals if they are eligible to donate blood.
- Individuals must have a prior diagnosis of COVID-19 documented by a laboratory test.
- Individuals must have fully recovered from COVID-19, with complete resolution of symptoms for at least 14 days before donation of convalescent plasma. Baylor College of Medicine will provide a second test after at least 14 days of recovery if one has not been done.
Potential donors can complete Baylor’s online questionnaire to assess eligibility. For those looking to donate, or are looking for more information, email [email protected]
