Hopkins clinical trial testing antibodies to fight coronavirus
The quest to find treatments for the coronavirus is critical, and a new clinical trial underway in Maryland could determine whether giving people antibodies is an effective way to treat early stage coronavirus and prevent those exposed to it from catching the disease.
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If you've been exposed to the coronavirus or have it, there's a critical trial at Johns Hopkins University that may help you and many others.
Johns Hopkins University Dr. David Sullivan is a researcher leading the COVID-19 outpatient plasma trial.
"We're looking at convalescent plasma with antibodies from people who have recovered. It's different because it's an outpatient solution to this pandemic," Sullivan said.
He said there currently are no outpatient therapies for the coronavirus.
"We're trying to rapidly show that people that are early in their illness can get a treatment and stop them from going to the hospital," Sullivan said. "We're also looking at household members of people that are positive with COVID-19 early illness so that they can avoid getting the infection."
Jonathan Orens' daughter traveled from Los Angeles, a COVID-19 hotspot, to the East Coast in July for the birth of her sister's baby. To be safe Orens, his wife and daughter got tested.
"My wife and I tested negative, but our daughter turned out to be positive, much to our surprise. She was totally asymptomatic," Orens said.
Orens and his wife enrolled in the Hopkins trial. Participants had to have tested positive for the virus no more than five days prior, or they can have been in close contact with someone who had COVID-19 no more than three days prior.
"They simply put an IV in our arm and infuse the plasma over an hour or two, and then we were able to leave," Orens said.
Sullivan said, short of a vaccine, this appears to be a viable treatment.
"This treatment is available now. It's an immediate way of getting antibodies that it takes a month or two for a vaccine to generate," Sullivan said.
Orens said everyone needs to be involved in the effort to fight COVID-19.
"I think that we all have a societal commitment to do that," Orens said.
To participate in the trial, go to covidplasmatrial.org.