Israeli COVID-19 Patient Improves After Blood Plasma Transplant
JERUSALEM, Israel – An Israeli coronavirus patient improved slightly after receiving multiple blood plasma donations from someone who had already recovered from the virus.
The 29-year-old patient’s condition improved from serious to serious but stable over the weekend while being treated at Israel’s Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital.
Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s EMS and blood donation service, collected the plasma and facilitated the donation.
The Jerusalem Post reports that at least 7 recovered COVID-19 patients have donated their blood plasma, which has already been provided to three different Israeli hospitals.
After recovering from #Coronavirus, Dr. Ofer Rak agreed to donate plasma to help cure coronary patients in moderate and severe conditions through MDA's blood services.
— Magen David Adom (@Mdais) April 6, 2020
Recovered Victim Help Save Lives. #Israel pic.twitter.com/n3tI5a205p
There is no standardized treatment yet for the coronavirus and medical professionals hope plasma transplants can help.
Plasma is a liquid component of blood that contains antibodies, which are created by the body to fight viruses. Antibodies can stay in the blood for some time after the virus is destroyed and can be transplanted into another patient.
MDA’s next step is to collect enough plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to extract an antibody concentrate that can be used for transplant later.
An Israeli pharmaceutical company called Kamada is already working on this antibody concentrate treatment for severely ill patients.
Kamada has begun developing a product that extracts COVID-19 antibodies from blood plasma.
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"Companies like us have the technology to purify the specific antibodies from that plasma in order to give it to patients and boost their immune system," Kamada CEO Amir London told CBN News. "We are not triggering the immune system. We are giving the actual antibodies to actually boost the system.”
Kamada has been developing treatments like this one for the last 30 years and already produced an FDA-approved product for rabies. The company also has a contract with Israel's Ministry of Health to create a medicine for victims of venomous snake bites in Israel.
Kamada cannot guarantee it will be successful in developing the coronavirus treatment mostly because "the availability of plasma and the level of antibodies in the plasma [of already fully recovered coronavirus patients] is yet to be determined."
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated plasma transplant treatments as “investigational” and has permitted doctors to begin experimenting with the treatment of patients. However, more trials need to be done before the treatment can be used regularly.
"Although promising, convalescent plasma has not yet been shown to be effective in COVID-19," the FDA's website said.
Plasma has been used to combat SARS, MERS, and H1N1, the FDA reported.
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