New blood plasma coronavirus treatment set to be trialled in the UK

Doctors at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital are set to trial a potential treatment for coronavirus (Covid-19) using blood plasma from recovered patients.

The hospital’s Biomedical Research Centre said the first plasma donations have been collected, and transfusions will begin in “the coming weeks”. It’s hoped the potential treatment, known as convalescent plasma, will help patients whose bodies are not producing sufficient antibodies to fight the virus.

The hospital said if the trials prove the treatment to be effective, NHS Blood and Transplant will begin a national programme to deliver up to 10,000 units of convalescent plasma per week to the NHS. It would be enough to treat 5,000 patients each week.

As a new disease, there are no proven drugs to treat critically ill patients with Covid-19. Providing critically ill patients with plasma from patients who have recovered… could improve their chances of recovery

Health and social care secretary Matt Hancock said:

The UK has world-leading life sciences and research sectors and I have every hope this treatment will be a major milestone in our fight against this disease.

Hundreds of people are participating in national trials already for potential treatments and the scaling up of convalescent plasma collection means thousands could potentially benefit from it in the future.

The BBC reported there was currently enough plasma to transfuse to 143 patients.