04/12/2022
Nuvance Health participated in a nationwide, 16-month study that showed convalescent plasma can be effective and safe in treating early COVID-19.
In the fall of 2020, Nuvance Health was one of a few healthcare institutions selected by Johns Hopkins to participate in these clinical trials that tested the effectiveness of convalescent blood plasma in treating COVID-19 outpatients.
More than 1,100 patients throughout the country participated in the study between June 2020 and October 2021. Patients were either given the plasma or placebo with success measured by the patient not requiring hospitalization within 28 days of the transfusion.
Nuvance Health offered the study at Danbury Hospital and Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY.
“Our contribution to this study speaks to Nuvance Heath’s commitment to finding a treatment for COVID 19,” said MarieElena Cordisco, assistant vice president of Clinical Trials for Nuvance Health. “This study started before vaccinations became available, and the only available treatment for COVID 19 at that time was for patients in the hospital. These results showed that giving convalescent plasma within the first nine days of testing prevented hospitalization for COVID 19.”
The research showed antibody-rich, COVID-19 convalescent plasma — when administered to outpatients within nine days after testing positive — reduced the need for hospitalization for more than half the study’s predominantly unvaccinated outpatients.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published the findings of the multicenter study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“Based on our findings and conclusions — which are now validated through the peer-review process — we encourage healthcare professionals to keep SARS-CoV-2 antibody-rich blood plasma available in their blood banks as part of the treatment arsenal against early-stage COVID-19, for future surges with variants,” said study co-lead author David Sullivan, MD, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment in infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Learn more about Nuvance Health's Research Department and clinical trials offered.
In the fall of 2020, Nuvance Health was one of a few healthcare institutions selected by Johns Hopkins to participate in these clinical trials that tested the effectiveness of convalescent blood plasma in treating COVID-19 outpatients.
More than 1,100 patients throughout the country participated in the study between June 2020 and October 2021. Patients were either given the plasma or placebo with success measured by the patient not requiring hospitalization within 28 days of the transfusion.
Nuvance Health offered the study at Danbury Hospital and Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY.
“Our contribution to this study speaks to Nuvance Heath’s commitment to finding a treatment for COVID 19,” said MarieElena Cordisco, assistant vice president of Clinical Trials for Nuvance Health. “This study started before vaccinations became available, and the only available treatment for COVID 19 at that time was for patients in the hospital. These results showed that giving convalescent plasma within the first nine days of testing prevented hospitalization for COVID 19.”
The research showed antibody-rich, COVID-19 convalescent plasma — when administered to outpatients within nine days after testing positive — reduced the need for hospitalization for more than half the study’s predominantly unvaccinated outpatients.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published the findings of the multicenter study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“Based on our findings and conclusions — which are now validated through the peer-review process — we encourage healthcare professionals to keep SARS-CoV-2 antibody-rich blood plasma available in their blood banks as part of the treatment arsenal against early-stage COVID-19, for future surges with variants,” said study co-lead author David Sullivan, MD, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment in infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Learn more about Nuvance Health's Research Department and clinical trials offered.