Fresno-area blood center joins effort in experimental coronavirus treatment
The Central California Blood Center hopes to collect its first plasma donation this week from a patient who has fully recovered from COVID-19 as part of an experimental emergency treatment for patients battling the illness.
Ersilia Lacaze, director of marketing and community development for the Central California Blood Center, said many blood centers are taking part in the efforts to collect plasma. However, she said, the local blood center was among the first to launch the experimental treatment that goes through a more rigorous process to produce the pathogen-reduced plasma.
People who recover from COVID-19, Lacaze said, naturally created antibodies that were required to fight the virus. Those antibodies typically remain in the plasma, and “that’s where the plasma treatment comes into play” to potentially help others recover.
When the plasma is injected in sick patients, “it will give their bodies sort of a booster shot against the disease,” she said.
The blood center is currently working with the Fresno County Department of Public Health and Cerus Corporation, as well as local hospitals, to help identify individuals who have recovered from the virus, and who would be interested in becoming donors.
Late last week, the Fresno-based blood center announced it was becoming one of the first facilities across the country to produce pathogen-reduced plasma from patients who recover from coronavirus. In its Friday news release, the local blood center said convalescent plasma would then be distributed to local hospitals and others across the nation.
As an additional safety measure, she said, the blood center puts the plasma through an extra step to reduce pathogens. The experimental treatment was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is to be used on an emergency basis.
“We are hoping to collect our first donation this week,” she said during a Wednesday interview.
Anyone interested in becoming a donor can visit the blood center’s website. Lacaze said officials are currently working on a website specifically for this effort, but has not yet gone live.
“I think it’s always really exciting to be on the forefront of any medical event,” Lacaze said, adding it will put the Fresno community on the map.
“It means we’ll have the treatment readily available for patients in the valley,” she said.
But, Lacaze, said given that this is an experimental treatment, there are “a lot of unknowns.”
After working with Cerus Corporation to implement the FDA criteria and safety protocols, the blood center can take potential donors.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 11:23 AM.
.jpg)