University of Minnesota leads recruitment to new COVID-19 antibody trial

The University of Minnesota is coordinating a federally funded COVID-19 trial to find out whether purified virus-fighting antibodies from as many as 10 donors can effectively treat one severe case of the infectious disease.

The trial is an extension of the plasma therapies that have received federal emergency use authorization to treat COVID-19 but with uneven results because antibody levels vary in the plasma donated by people who have recovered from the disease.

"If you're a lucky person to get enough of the antibodies in the plasma infusion you receive, it may work," said James Neaton, who directs the U's INSIGHT network that will enroll patients worldwide for the new trial. "But a very high percentage of the plasma infusions that were done had levels that did not seem to achieve the benefit that you would like."

https://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-leads-recruitment-to-new-covid-19-antibody-trial/572744621/