In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, does convalescent plasma from recovered patients offer fresh hope for those who are critically ill?
Drs. Pampee Young and Ralph Vassallo
Is Convalescent Plasma an Answer?
Convalescent plasma is collected from those who have recovered from an illness (in this case COVID-19) and transfused to those currently ill. Passive antibody therapy is an old idea, but how much will it help in the current pandemic? Much current research seeks to answer that question.
My guests, Drs Pampee Young and Ralph Vassallo, are the medical leaders of the two largest blood collectors in the United States, the American Red Cross and Vitalant, respectively. They recorded separate interviews with me on April 30, 2020, to discuss what their organizations are doing to make COVID-19 convalescent plasma available for research use. We will also discuss the current pathways US hospitals must follow to transfuse this product.
PLEASE NOTE:
Things are moving quickly! One day after I recorded these interviews, the FDA updated their donor criteria. Please stick around until the end of the episode for an update.
Drs. Pampee Young and Ralph Vassallo
Is Convalescent Plasma an Answer?
Convalescent plasma is collected from those who have recovered from an illness (in this case COVID-19) and transfused to those currently ill. Passive antibody therapy is an old idea, but how much will it help in the current pandemic? Much current research seeks to answer that question.
My guests, Drs Pampee Young and Ralph Vassallo, are the medical leaders of the two largest blood collectors in the United States, the American Red Cross and Vitalant, respectively. They recorded separate interviews with me on April 30, 2020, to discuss what their organizations are doing to make COVID-19 convalescent plasma available for research use. We will also discuss the current pathways US hospitals must follow to transfuse this product.
PLEASE NOTE:
Things are moving quickly! One day after I recorded these interviews, the FDA updated their donor criteria. Please stick around until the end of the episode for an update.
About My Guests:
Pampee Young, MD
Dr. Pampee Young is the Chief Medical Officer of the American Red Cross. Prior to taking this position in 2018, she was Professor of Pathology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where served as the Medical Director of the Section of Transfusion Medicine. She has over 80 peer reviewed publications. Her research interests while at Vanderbilt were in the field of regenerative medicine, using both stem cell based cell therapy and small molecular therapeutics. Currently, she is focused on research in blood center innovation, blood product availability, and safety.
Ralph Vassallo, MD
Dr. Ralph Vassallo is the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of Vitalant, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Prior to joining Vitalant in 2014, he was the Chief Medical Officer of the American Red Cross Blood Services, Eastern Division, based at the Penn-Jersey region in Philadelphia. In addition to his transfusion medicine expertise, Dr. Vassallo completed a hematology-oncology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Vassallo is a past chair of the AABB Circular of Information Task Force and Donor Health and Safety Committee. He’s authored book chapters in Williams Hematology, Rossi’s Principles of Transfusion Medicine, McLeod’s Apheresis: Principles and Practice, and more than 70 other articles and reviews.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this episode are those of my guest and I alone, and do not reflect those of the organizations with which either of us is affiliated. Neither Dr. Young, Dr. Vassallo, nor I have any relevant financial disclosures related to this discussion.
Further Reading:
- COVID-91 Convalescent Plasma White Paper; Used by permission from America’s Blood Centers.
- FDA Guidance for COVID19 convalescent plasma (updated 01 May 2020)
- Article on deployment of CCP mentioned several times in episode (free access as of 03 May 2020): Bloch EM et al. Deployment of convalescent plasma for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. J. Clin Invest 2020 (Early View 07 Apr 2020)
- Editorial on CCP and randomized trials by Dr. Sunny Dzik (free access as of 03 May 2020): Dzik S. COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma: Now Is the Time for Better Science. Transf Med Rev 2020 (Early View April 2020)
- Article describing history of passive antibody therapy in previous coronavirus epidemics and in other settings (free access as of 03 May 2020): Sullivan HC and Roback JD. Convalescent Plasma: Therapeutic Hope or Hopeless Strategy in the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic. Transf Med Rev 2020 (Early view April 2020).
Thanks to:
- Samantha Chaffin, Design and content consultant
Music Credit
Music for this episode includes “Cuando te invade el temor” and “Reflejo,” both by Mar Virtual via the Free Music Archive. Click the image below for permissions and license details.
Thank you very much. It was very interesting and eyes opening. Greetings from Israeli blood devices.
Thank you.
Great podcast. Very informative.
Still many questions left to be answered,such as what is the best therapeutic titer.
Couldn’t agree more, Maria, but that’s kind of the point for me: Blood centers are collecting and offering the product so it can be studied.
Silly Joe, you’re no dummy. 😉
Very informative. I do believe we need follow up studies on patients who have been transfused Ruth CCP and at what level of severity of the disease they were when they recurved the CCP
I believe you are correct, Laura! In my opinion, we’ve got to have more patients in randomized studies to really know how effective CCP is and in which populations. However, if the upcoming things people are working on, like vaccines and monoclonal immunotherapies, happen soon, we may never get those high-quality studies.
-Joe