WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U. S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed the use of convalescent plasma as a remedy for COVID-19 and warned that an informed resolution through regulators to suspend emergency authorization for use could have political motivations.
“I heard a few things about plasma in recovery,” Trump said at a briefing.
An emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of blood plasma as a remedy for coronavirus has been suspended due to weak data, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
“This may simply be a political decision,” Trump said.
“There are a lot of other people who don’t need to rush things because they need to do it after November 3,” he said, referring to the presidential election.
“I’ve heard numbers well above 50% success. And other people are dying and we’ve approved if he’s smart and I hear he’s smart. I’ve heard other people at the FDA say he’s smart,” he said. .
The FDA responded to a request for comment.
People with an infectious disease such as COVID-19 end up with blood plasma containing antibodies that the body’s immune formula has created to fight a virus, which can be transfused into newly inflamed patients in an attempt to facilitate healing.
(Report via Andrea Shalal; written through Eric Beech; edited through Mohammad Zargham and Stephen Coates)