Washington – The Food and Drug Administration announced Sunday that it had authorized an emergency use declaration for removal of plasma to treat it coronavirus. FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said early studies indicate a 35% better chance of survival if convalescent plasma is used in “optimal patients.”
President Trump held a news conference with Hahn in the White House shortly after the FDA announced the emergency authorization. The two walked away when several reporters shouted “was there any pressure on you to authorize this?”
CBS News’ Weijia Jiang reported last week that National Institute of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and others at the NIH Hahn have warned against approving the authorization for emergency use.
Hahn acknowledged Sunday that additional data is needed, but said “this clearly meets the criteria we have set for authorization for emergency use.”
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Mr. Trump, meanwhile, toured the approval as a “historic announcement” in the fight against COVID-19. Prior to the news conference, he tweeted that he would provide “very good news”.
Just a day earlier, Mr. Trump suggested that the “deep state” at the FDA is deliberately slow-running trials for a coronavirus vaccine and therapeutics, aimed at damaging its prospects for re-selection.
“The deep state, or whatever, at the FDA makes it very difficult for drug companies to get people to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Of course, they hope to delay the response until after November 3,” he tweeted.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, however said on “Face the Nation” that the test on which the authorization is based is not “very rigorously done.”
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