Prioritizing Convalescent Plasma Treatments: What Needs to Happen Now

As both a professor of anesthesiology and vice chair of clinical research and innovation at Stony Brook Medicine, Dr. Elliott Bennett-Guerrero has ample experiencing guiding multi-center randomized trials. The most recent clinical trial Dr. Bennett-Guerrero is involved in is a study taking place at Stony Brook Medicine testing how effective a treatment involving plasma from COVID-19 survivors could be for current patients.

Treatments for COVID-19 are consuming the focus of researchers in the health care industry as the globe continues to look for ways to fight the coronavirus. The use of convalescent plasma taken from recovered COVID-19 patients shows promise as a treatment to help current patients improve. Unfortunately, the research into this strategy has not been thorough enough for medical professionals to really show its effectiveness.

Research time has been spent on hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug touted by some as a miracle treatment for COVID-19. Despite the interest in and prioritization of hydroxychloroquine, five controlled studies have shown very little benefit.

Many high-level doctors and researchers believe that it is time to move on from hydroxychloroquine to convalescent plasma research. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recently stated that he believes a controlled and randomized trial for convalescent plasma treatment is needed now. In the next several months, more randomized and controlled trials assessing the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment will likely begin, hopefully giving answers about the efficacy of this treatment.