The Food and Drug Administration’s Commission, Dr. Stephen Hahn, has walked back his comments made at the White House when speaking of the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The EUA authorizes physicians to use convalescent plasma as a treatment for COVID-19, although there are no completed clinical trials yet to determine its effectiveness and safety. But it notes that early results show that convalescent plasma’s benefits outweigh possible harm.
Hahn, President Donald Trump, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said a study found use of convalescent plasma resulted in a 35 percent improvement in survival.
At the White House on Sunday, during the announcement by President Trump, Hahn said “Many of you know I was a cancer doctor before I became FDA commissioner,” Hahn said at the White House on Sunday. “And a 35 percent improvement in survival is a pretty substantial clinical benefit. What that means is — and if the data continue to pan out — 100 people who are sick with COVID-19, 35 would have been saved because of the administration of plasma.”
