Antibodies from COVID-19 survivors may offer viable treatment

An immunologist at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, Md., is working to develop a blood-derived treatment for use against COVID-19. The technique uses antibodies from the blood plasma or serum of people who have recovered from the infection. If all goes well, the team says, it may be able to produce a treatment for testing in a matter of weeks. The practice of using antibody-laden blood to boost the immunity of infected patients and others who risk contracting the disease was successful during the SARS epidemic and the 1918 flu pandemic. Doctors in Shanghai have also reported success using a therapy derived from blood plasma. A paper detailing the JHU research is available in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. (JHU HUB story, 3/13/20)