Coronavirus Plasma Research: Johns Hopkins Test Approved

BALTIMORE, MD — Johns Hopkins University researchers have gained federal approval to test whether the plasma from people who have recovered from the new coronavirus can be used to protect others from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus. Currently, there is no vaccine and no cure.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the clinical trial involving using plasma to boost the immune systems of those who are at high risk of contracting the virus, such as first responders and health care workers.

Leading the research is Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert Arturo Casedevall, M.D., Ph.D., who proposed the technique of using plasma from those who have recovered from COVID-19 as was done in the early 20th century to protect people from measles.

Casedevall, the chair of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology for Johns Hopkins Medicine, is assembling physicians and scientists nationwide to create a network of blood banks and hospitals to process the blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors, according to a statement from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which is part of the interdisciplinary research team.

"[The] trial will tell us whether plasma is effective in protecting our health care workers and first responders from COVID-19," Casedevall said in a statement.

Federal approval for the test comes a week after Bloomberg Philanthropies announced it would put $3 million and the state of Maryland would contribute $1 million to the project.

“Dr. Casadevall and his colleagues from across Johns Hopkins and partners around the nation are working with creativity and persistence to face this disease head on," Johns Hopkins President Ronald J. Daniels said in a statement.

The plasma research "reflects Johns Hopkins’ abiding commitment to collaboration and discovery that serves humanity," Daniels said. "We are grateful for the FDA’s swift support for this life-saving work and the promise it holds for so many, particularly our front-line health care workers, in this extraordinary time.”

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