After the White House coronavirus task force pressed for the emergency-use authorization of convalescent plasma as a treatment for hospitalized patients, blood banks are seeking “superdonors,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
The “high titer” donors, those with a high antibody levels are in particular demand, particularly if they sustain those levels months after recovering from the COVID-19 infection, per the report.
The donations are sought regularly for those categorized as “high titer” donors.
That type of plasma has proved in data that transfusions have been effective in reducing mortality in hospitalized patients.
“We expect hospitals will want high-titer plasma,” Vitalant Research Institute Senior VP Cliff Numark told the Journal. “We don’t know if we will have enough.”
The demand will only grow if a new wave of COVID-19 infections wash over the United States during the upcoming cold and flu season, experts told the Journal.
“We want to take a person who has recovered from COVID and make them a superdonor with very high antibody levels,” Vitalant’s Director of Laboratory Science Dr. Philip J. Norris told the Journal.
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