‘But so far, there’s little evidence that plasma actually helps patients, and the decision could confound efforts to study its effects, says former FDA commissioner Robert Califf, who now heads clinical policy and strategy at Verily and Google Health in South San Francisco, California... Convalescent plasma has been tested only in small trials without the statistical power to provide firm conclusions... “It’s a potential therapy that could work, and I don’t think it’s out of bounds to make it available” with an authorization, says Califf. “But we ought to be really emphasizing in public-service announcements that participation in randomized trials is a first priority.”
[This story was written before the US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency-use authorisation on August 23 to treat COVID-19 with convalescent plasma.]
Read here (Scientific American, August 24, 2020)
