Coronavirus: Blood transfusion trial begins for Covid-19 patients in UK

New programme will assess speed of recovery and chances of survival among infected individuals

Trials have begun in the UK to test the effectiveness of blood plasma transfusions in treating patients suffering from Covid-19.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) have started delivering the first units of convalescent plasma, which contains the antibodies of people who have recovered from coronavirus, to hospitals in England.

In total, 14 units have been supplied to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

The first transfusions have been administered, NHSBT confirmed on Wednesday, though the efficacy of the treatment will not be known until the trial ends.

Seven hospitals are currently taking part in the trials, which will assess a patient’s speed of recovery and chances of survival, with more expected to join in the coming months as the number of people eligible to donate blood plasma increases.

As of Tuesday, more than 6,500 people had signed up while around 400 donations had been made.

Donating takes about 45 minutes, as the blood is filtered through a machine to remove the plasma. The process is known as plasmapheresis.

Gail Miflin, chief medical officer for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We’re delighted the first patients are receiving convalescent plasma transfusions thanks to the generosity of our donors.

“We’re carrying out a clinical trial to see how effective transfusions are and we wish every patient well.”

Mr Miflin said that plasmapheresis was new to NHSBT but insisted that appointments and collection capacity were being “rapidly” increased.

“We’ve taken more than 400 donations so far,” he added. “We’re rapidly building collection capacity so that if our trial shows the transfusions are effective, we can supply hospitals at a large scale.

“We are collecting in nine cities at the moment and we’re expanding to all 23 of our donor centres, and some new venues in large cities.

“We’re using NHS data to contact people with a positive test result who live near our donor centres.

“Plasma donation is safe and easy and you could save lives – if you get the call, please donate.”

The transfusions are being delivered in collaboration with REMAP-CAP, an international trial platform helping evaluate a number of Covid-19 treatments.

Anthony Gordon, a professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care at Imperial College London and the chief investigator for REMAP-CAP, said: “The REMAP-CAP trial has been specifically designed to provide answers about the best treatment options for the most seriously ill with Covid-19.

“It is fully adaptive, meaning that new treatments can be added as we learn more; the sample size isn’t fixed and it keeps recruiting until it finds that a treatment is better, worse, or the same as another. It also ‘learns’ from that data so that patients are more likely to receive those interventions that are performing best.”

Dr Abhi Lal, from Solihull, is one of the hundreds of people who have donated their plasma, having tested positive for Covid-19 in March.

“I wanted to do something to potentially help others and to help develop a treatment,” the 43-year-old said.

“Donating my plasma was a fantastic experience. The staff here at Birmingham Donor Centre have been very friendly and I have been very well looked after. I had Covid-19 six weeks ago. I had body aches, fever and fatigue, and a positive test result.

“I am a chest doctor at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. I look after people at the severe end of it. It’s been a pretty nasty illness. It’s made a lot of people very ill and unfortunately some people have not survived. It’s good to be able to try help by donating plasma too.”

NHSBT is contacting potential convalescent plasma donors directly, using recovered patient data supplied through the wider NHS.

The blood plasma is collected no sooner than 28 days after recovery, to ensure discharged patients have developed a good antibody response – a process which can take up to a month.