Mayo Clinic treating coronavirus patients with convalescent plasma

PHOENIX — No proven treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus is available yet, but doctors at Mayo Clinic are looking at a therapy that can potentially help patients recover.

They’re using convalescent plasma from people who’ve recovered from COVID-19 to help patients with the disease.

Dr. Jill Adamski, chair of laboratory medicine at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, said the plasma has antibodies that help fight off the coronavirus.

“We take that plasma and we transfuse it into the sick person, basically giving them immediate immunity against the virus through that transfer of antibodies,” she said. “The goal then is that those antibodies are going to neutralize the virus.”

The Mayo Clinic in Phoenix started treating patients with convalescent plasma last week. So far, Adamski said patients have “tolerated the plasma very well” and they haven’t had complications.

“But it’s too soon to be able to make any definitive statements, because we just started doing the treatment,” she added. “What I can say is it looks promising so far.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on March 24 began allowing doctors to use convalescent plasma to treat patients with “serious or immediate life-threatening COVID-19 infections.”

About a week later, it announced Mayo Clinic would be leading the national effort to provide access to convalescent plasma for hospitalized patients.

Doctors can register their patients’ information in a Mayo Clinic-led database in order to obtain access to convalescent plasma donations.

“One of the key things about transfusing plasma is that it does have to be compatible with the recipient’s blood type,” Adamski said.

She added that as more recovered COVID-19 patients donate their plasma, “we will be able to accommodate all patients” who need the transfusion.

Mayo Clinic recently partnered with Vitalant, formerly known as United Blood Services, to collect plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients in Arizona.

People who’ve recovered from the coronavirus can sign up to donate plasma through Vitalant’s website. They must be symptom-free for at least 14 days before they can donate.

“It’s a very generous thing for our recovered patients to do because it really can potentially save a stranger’s life,” Adamski said.

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