Global healthcare company Grifols is collaborating with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to collect plasma and create a COVID-19 treatment based on it.
The effort is based on previous government calls for treatments that use convalescent plasma or hyperimmune globulin. Such plasma is a blood product donated by patients that have survived COVID-19, which health experts hope could be used as a treatment for those currently enduring the disease. In concentrated form, such antibodies make hyperimmune globulin, a more flexible and simple therapeutic treatment.
BARDA will provide $12.7 million to the effort, which will see Grifols collect plasma from a network of more than 250 plasma donor centers nationwide, then use the collected plasma to manufacture convalescent plasma and hyperimmune globulin for clinical use. Such products are authorized for testing in controlled clinical trials, as their safety and efficacy still need to be assessed.
Currently, no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatments exist for COVID-19, though the search for new therapeutic treatments continues. Many potentials currently operate under Emergency Use Authorizations granted by the FDA.