Versiti blood centers to collect plasma to help treat those severely ill with COVID-19
MILWAUKEE -- As cases of the coronavirus continue to rise across the country and the world, officials with Versiti announced Thursday, April 2 they will begin collecting plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to help treat others diagnosed with the virus.
This blood-related treatment -- approved by the FDA as an Emergency Investigational New Drug (EIND) -- could offer hope to the hundreds of patients who continue to be diagnosed. This treatment would be used by hospitals for the most severely affected patients.
According to a news release, officials at Versiti blood centers, among the first in the U.S. to begin collecting convalescent plasma, are working with partner hospitals to identify recovered patients. As per the guidelines, hospitals must request FDA approval and work within the EIND guidelines, or other approved IND, in order to treat coronavirus patients with plasma.
Donors would be referred to Versiti through hospitals, or the recovered patients’ physicians.
“The potential donors must first be proven to have had a COVID-19 diagnosis through a positive lab test result, and must then have a negative test result 14 days after recovering from symptoms,” said Versiti Senior Medical Director Dan A. Waxman, M.D. in the release “It’s a very collaborative effort with our hospital partners who will be working to identify and verify the donors.”
The release said Versiti officials hope to implement the coronavirus plasma collection program in early April. The donated plasma will be provided directly to the hospitals with whom Versiti is partnering.
“Many of our hospital partners have already requested the donations,” said Dr. Waxman. “They are anxious to begin the program.”
The release said the plasma treatment would transfer the antibodies that the recovered patient created, into critically ill patients currently receiving care. Because of the investigational nature of this treatment, it is difficult to know just how many plasma infusions a COVID-19 patient may require, according to Dr. Waxman.
The plasma donations, which take 30-40 minutes, will be collected at Versiti donor centers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The donation process is the same as with other plasma donations, and will be performed using an apheresis machine, which separates the blood components.
Though blood group AB is the universal plasma donor, any blood type donor who has recovered from the virus is eligible to donate as part of the program.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Versiti, or to schedule a blood or plasma donation.