COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Study Shows No Benefit, US NIH Stops Trial

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has halted a trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 convalescent plasma in treating emergency department patients with mild to moderate symptoms.

• This move comes less than two months after an international trial of convalescent plasma was halted as it found no benefit.
• This therapy, also known as survivor's plasma, uses blood from people who have recovered from the illness. It contains antibodies, or special proteins, generated by the body's immune system to fight the disease.
• An independent data and safety monitoring board met in February for the second planned interim analysis of the trial data and concluded that while the convalescent plasma intervention caused no harm, it was unlikely to benefit this group of patients, the NIH said in a statement.
• The U.S. trial had enrolled 511 of 900 participants, either given blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients or a placebo.
• A recent analysis indicated no significant difference in the proportion of patients who needed emergency treatment, had to be hospitalized or died within 15 days of entering the trial, NIH said
• "Even if enrolment continued, this trial was highly unlikely to demonstrate that COVID-19 convalescent plasma prevents progression from mild to severe illness in at-risk emergency department non-hospitalized participants," said the NIH.
• According to NIH, over 100,000 people in the U.S. and many more worldwide have already been treated with plasma therapy since the pandemic began.