The Trump administration’s decision to authorize the use of a blood-plasma treatment for COVID-19 with no clear evidence it works could frustrate efforts to better understand the therapy’s benefits.
Several clinical trials are examining the use of so-called convalescent plasma for COVID-19, but none have been completed and results aren’t expected for at least several more weeks.
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Some of the studies are struggling to attract participants because of programs that give patients a more certain path to the therapy and a way to avoid the risk of ending up with a placebo in a clinical trial. Researchers fear that Sunday’s decision by the Food and Drug Administration to issue an emergency waiver will make it harder to get patients into clinical trials and get a more definitive picture on whether … Read the rest