The UK and indeed the world, are currently in the grips of a global pandemic due to the Coronavirus.
Whilst much attention and money have been spent on the development of a coronavirus vaccine, the WHO confirms this will likely take months – and, of course, offers nothing to patients who contract and suffer with the virus now. Trials of several antiviral drugs, steroids and various treatments seem, so far, to have offered only marginal benefits. But there is a potential treatment that is, to date, being overlooked and deserves more attention: using plasma from the blood of patients who have successfully recovered from the coronavirus infection. It’s a field in which the UK has plenty of medical expertise; however, this specialist knowledge – at present – is not being utilised.
When fighting coronavirus infection, one’s immune system is needed to develop antibodies to overcome the virus. Once a patient is placed on a ventilator, there is approximately a 50% chance of survival. Currently there is little that a frontline intensive care specialist can do by way of active treatment, to help these patients, except make them comfortable and hope their own immune system wins the fight. But it would be possible to take antibodies generated by the immune system of a recovering (convalescent) patient and administer them to a critically ill patient to help them in their battle to recover. All that is needed is to make this treatment option available.
I run one of several groups in the UK that specialises in refining and administering what’s known as convalescent or hyperimmune plasma which can be used in treating critically ill patients. This means identifying the most effective antibodies, working out how much plasma is required for the patient and how to administer it. We’ve had experience with assisting complex cardiac surgical patients with promising results. Other specialist groups have used this treatment in the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa – another virus where no vaccine seemed imminent. Where tried, there have been promising effects to assist Covid-19 patients.
It is well known that coronavirus takes most lives amongst the elderly whom, we know, have an immune system that begins to fail as they approach the end of life. Sadly, across the world a number of younger and seemingly healthy people are succumbing to the Covid-19 virus. It is likely that a proportion of the ‘normal’ younger population also do not mount a ‘normal’ immune response. We’ve seen this in research studies on healthcare workers exposed to ‘hepatitis B’ vaccine and others after the influenza vaccine. Those who may not respond adequately to active immunisation techniques may respond to hyperimmune plasma treatment.
The progress of Covid-19 in the UK means there is an abundant supply of convalescent plasma serum from those who have recovered and have developed antibodies. But we need to harvest it now to save lives. That’s why urgent consideration needs to be given as to how we collect, test, store and distribute blood from recovered patients. This would use the UK’s standard national blood-banking practices which are already operational.
In the US, China and Italy, studies in this field are already underway. But we have just as much expertise in this field in Britain. In fact, there is probably more experience in clinical intervention studies relating to the use of hyperimmune plasma therapy in the UK compared with these other countries. We have the experience and are ready to go if a strategy is triggered very quickly for the UK. Convalescent hyperimmune plasma therapy could become operational on a nationwide basis within a relatively short space of time using systems that we already have in place.
Britain has the expertise, the personnel and the experience. We stand ready to mobilise, should this approach be given the attention and support it deserves by government.
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