Plasma from cured patients shows little benefit in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: study

(Reuters) – Using blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat patients with severe pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus has shown little benefit, data released Tuesday from a clinical trial in Argentina showed .

The therapy known as convalescent plasma, which delivers antibodies from COVID-19 survivors to those infected, has not significantly improved patients’ condition or reduced their risk of dying from the disease any better. than a placebo, the study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found.

Despite limited evidence for its effectiveness, convalescent plasma, which US President Donald Trump touted in August as a “historic breakthrough,” has been administered frequently to patients in the United States.

In October, a small study in India suggested that convalescent plasma improved symptoms in patients with COVID-19, such as shortness of breath and fatigue, but did not reduce the risk of death or progression to serious illness. after 28 days.

The new Argentine study looked at 333 hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia who were randomized to receive convalescent plasma or a placebo.

After 30 days, the researchers found no significant difference in the symptoms or the health of the patients. The mortality rate was about the same at 11% in the convalescent plasma group and 11.4% in the placebo group, a difference not considered statistically significant.

There is still the possibility that convalescent plasma could help less sick COVID-19 patients, said study leader Dr Ventura Simonovich of the Italiano Hospital in Buenos Aires, but more studies would be needed and treatment supplies are not scalable.

For patients with severe disease, like those in this study, “other antibody-based therapies may play a role,” he said.