Trump hails FDA authorization of plasma treatment
President Donald Trump on Sunday hailed the FDA's authorization of a coronavirus treatment that uses blood plasma from recovered patients, a day after accusing the agency of impeding the rollout of vaccines and therapeutics for political reasons.
"Today, I'm pleased to make a truly historic announcement in our battle against the China virus that will save countless lives. The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization, and that's such a powerful term -- emergency use authorization -- for a treatment known as convalescent plasma. This is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection."
The FDA announcement of its "emergency use authorization" of the treatment came on the eve of the Republican National Convention, and a day after Trump tagged the FDA's Commissioner in a Twitter post in which Trump said, "The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics." "Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd."
The FDA said early evidence suggests that blood plasma can decrease mortality and improve the health of patients when administered in the first three days of their hospitalization.
"It has proven to reduce mortality by 35 percent."
At least 5.6 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the United States, according to a Reuters tally, and more than 176,000 Americans have died from the virus as of Sunday.
"...the treatment is safe and very effective."
