A news study shows that convalescent plasma did not reduce deaths among Covid-19 patients or prevent moderate disease from becoming severe, CNN reports.
Reports say the study, conducted in India and published in the medical journal the BMJ on Thursday, suggests that "as a potential treatment for patients with moderate Covid-19, convalescent plasma showed limited effectiveness."
Convalescent plasma is the antibody-rich serum taken from the blood of people who recovered from Covid-19. The idea is that the plasma can help the immune response of patients still fighting the disease.
In August, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of convalescent plasma as a treatment option for hospitalized Covid-19 patients.
However, data were still being collected in randomized controlled trials -- the gold standard -- to study the treatment's safety and effectiveness.
As reported by CNN last month, a National Institutes of Health panel said there's no evidence backing the use of convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus patients and that doctors should not treat it as a standard of care until more study has been done.
Randomized controlled trials of convalescent plasma to treat Covid-19 patients are still underway in the United States, CNN says.
Anano Nikoladze
News Author