US President Donald Trump raises questions during a briefing on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at the White House in Washington, August 11, 2020.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he was ‘surprised’ by the Food and Drug Administration’s hold on allocating emergency use for an experimental blood treatment for coronavirus patients, and said it could be politically motivated.
“I hear great things about it … that’s all I can tell you,” Trump said in a White House press release, referring to restorative plasma therapy. “It can be a political decision, because you have a lot of people who do not want to rush things, because they want to do it after November 3, and you have heard that one before.”
The FDA last week placed its authorization for emergency use of consumable plasma on hold for a number of top health officials, including White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins, who was appointed to the National Institutes of Health run by former President Barack Obama in 2009 worried about data on the possible treatment, according to the New York Times.
The experimental treatment uses the blood of recovered coronavirus patients who have built up antibodies against the diseases and infused it into people with Covid-19 to prevent serious illness, according to the Mayo Clinic, which is conducting research on the treatment.
“People are dying, and we should have approved it if it is good,” Trump said. “And I hear it well. I heard from people at the FDA that it’s okay.” Trump said he would “check” on the report following the press release.
Although there are currently no FDA-approved drugs or vaccines against the coronavirus, the administration has issued authorization for emergency use to clear unapproved products to use for treatment of patients with coronavirus. An FDA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The National Institutes of Health’s guidelines for treatment, last updated on July 17, state that there are “insufficient data” to support convalescent plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, although thousands of patients in the US receive the treatment received as part of clinical trials.
In fact, Trump said in the press release that he had heard success rates for restorative plasma “way over 50%” and said the White House would encourage the use of the therapy if the “numbers are as good” as he listens.
“I do not want delays. I do not want people to die,” Trump said.
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