Trump backs CSL COVID-19 plasma-based trial, saying its ‘power antibodies’ have had a ‘tremendous response’
Donald Trump has labelled as ‘tremendous’ a plasma therapy for COVID-19 to be jointly trialled by Australia’s CSL.
US President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind a therapy to fight COVID-19, which Australia’s biggest health company CSL is developing with other plasma manufactures
At a White House roundtable with Mr Trump, CSL chief executive Paul Perreault says the company is weeks away from beginning a clinical trial of plasma-based hyperimmune therapy to combat COVID-19.
Mr Trump endorsed the trial which CSL - the biggest company on the ASX - will complete as part of a global alliance it forged with Takeda and other plasma therapy manufacturers earlier this year.
The therapy focuses on using antibodies found in plasma donated from people who have recovered from COVID-19 to help others fight off the high infectious disease that has killed 670,000 across the globe, infected millions of others and exiled Victoria from the rest of Australia.
Mr Trump said the plasma-based therapy was “a more delicate way of doing things”. He has previously advocated the use of hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite his own public health officials saying it is ineffective.
But plasma is a different story.
“Plasma is one of the more delicate ways of doing things. It has had a tremendous response so far,” Mr Trump said.
“These therapies transfuse powerful antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help fight those battling the current infection that we all know so well.”
Mr Perreault said CSL, which has forged an alliance with other plasma companies in an effort to develop an effective COVID-19 treatment, said it would start enrolling trial participants in August and if it was successful, it would submit the therapy for Food and Drug Administration approval by the end of the year.
“The plasma donated by people who have already fought off COVID-19 has precious antibodies, really important antibodies to fight off this disease,” Mr Perreault said.
“These antibodies can be isolated and then they can be converted into what we term a hyperimmune plasma therapy that in theory could be used to treat active COVID-19 infections. It builds on the concept of plasma transfusion but the product is more like a standard medicine.
“This is an important approach and is well established in treating other infectious diseases like rabies or tetanus.”
But Mr Perreault said the success of the treatment hinged on accessing plasma and blood donations, and praised Mr Trump for his support of the trial.
“We need plasma and we need plasma donors. We need them wherever they are. We need them to donate blood, we need them to donate plasma. And we also need plasma in general because plasma is used to treat other rare diseases.
“As an industry, we would also like to thank the President and the administration for their support in encouraging plasma donations and for the partnership that is critical to enabling the potential hyperimmune to treat people experiencing serious complications from COVID-19.
“We are in this together. The fight is in us. We have to work together and this call to action to donate plasma and to help us fight against COVID-19 is really an important step in making this happen.”
CSL is also working on developing a vaccine with the University of Queensland and therapies involving monoclonal antibodies, which strengthen the immune system, to fight COVID-19.
CSL shares closed Friday down 1.6 per cent in a broadly weaker market.
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