
WASHINGTON (New York Times) — Last week, just as the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, a group of top federal health officials including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak, according to two senior administration officials.
NEW from @noahweiland @SharonLNYT @sherifink — FDA was set to do an emergency approval of blood plasma last week — until Collins, Fauci, and Lane intervened, citing weak data: https://t.co/Opm0UZAGYH
— Virginia Hughes (@virginiahughes) August 19, 2020
The authorization is on hold for now as more data is reviewed, according to H. Clifford Lane, the clinical director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An emergency approval could still be issued in the near future, he said.
The FDA's emergency authorization for blood plasma as a COVID-19 treatment has been put on hold after top federal health officials warned that evidence for the effectiveness of the treatment was too weak, according to a reporthttps://t.co/32VpUZS9dV
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 19, 2020
Donated by people who have survived the disease, antibody-rich plasma is considered safe. President Trump has hailed it as a “beautiful ingredient” in the veins of people who have survived Covid-19.
But clinical trials have not proved whether plasma can help people fighting the coronavirus.
Several top health officials — led by Dr. Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert; and Dr. Lane — urged their colleagues last week to hold off, citing recent data from the country’s largest plasma study, run by the Mayo Clinic. They thought the study’s data to date was not strong enough to warrant an emergency approval.
Important message from FDA and NIH. Covid-19 Is Creating a Wave of Heart Disease https://t.co/VWSrvpf7KG
— Robert M Califf (@califf001) August 19, 2020
FDA halts emergency approval of COVID-19 blood plasma treatment https://t.co/5RyXtJIp7F via @nypost THIS SHOWS TRUMP'S FDA A LITTLE TO APPROVAL HAPPY !!! I WILL NOT TRUST THEM !!!!!
— michael f cunningham (@michaelf1222) August 19, 2020
“The three of us are pretty aligned on the importance of robust data through randomized control trials, and that a pandemic does not change that,” Dr. Lane said in an interview on Tuesday.

Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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Well, they would, wouldn’t they? The treatment is safe: i.e. no one is hurt by a competently done blood or plasma transfusion but if it cures people, it reduces the number needing a vaccination. Dr. Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert; and Dr. Lane, Fauci certainly and the other two probably, have shares in the company making the vaccine. No one can patent plasma transfusions so it is a relatively inexpensive procedure. Unfair competition!!
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