Plasma therapy is helping Covid-19 patients Canada begins clinical trial of experimental COVID-19 treatment using plasma from recovered individuals
A team of blood transfusion experts from across Canada is planning the world’s largest clinical trial of a potential treatment for COVID-19.
The study, which will involve 1,000 patients from across the country, will include at least 40 Canadian hospitals, and is being overseen by doctors from the University of Montreal, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, McMaster and the University of British Columbia, among other schools.
The experimental treatment involves injecting antibody-rich plasma from patients who have recovered from the virus into those who are still infected. This approach has only been tried in small trials in China, Singapore, South Korea and the U.S. It is part of a global race to find a treatment for the disease, with researchers also focusing on antivirals and medications used to treat malaria.