NEW JERSEY – The Department of Defense has awarded Hackensack Meridian Health $5.5 million in funds to continue work on convalescent plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The funds will allow researchers and clinical experts at Hackensack Meridian John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) to advance with phase 2 testing of the clinical treatments.
Infected patients will be treated with the antibodies found in plasma collected from COVID-19 survivors in the first 96 hours of symptoms, with the goal to prevent hospitalization.
“We are trying to save lives,” said Michele Donato, M.D., FACP, CPE, chief of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, who is leading the study. “We believe we have done so – and the Department of Defense grant allows us to move the work forward to that end.”
Hackensack University Medical Center uses their convalescent plasma program to find “super donors,” which are essentially those who have the highest levels of neutralizing antibodies. With this new funding, it will further support the research behind early outpatient treatment.
Treating patients within the first four days of infection may make a significant difference in outcomes, experts say.
Convalescent plasma treatments are not new, according to experts. In fact, these treatments have previously been used to fight other viral outbreaks, including those of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by a virus that’s a cousin to the one responsible for COVID-19, and which sickened thousands in 2002-2003.
The Hackensack program uses plasma donors with higher levels of neutralizing antibodies, unlike other testing in the nation.
“The Department of Defense funds will further our efforts to establish the necessary standards for this to be used as successful therapy,” said David S. Perlin, Ph.D., the chief scientific officer and senior vice president of the CDI.
“Our researchers are always finding ways to accomplish their mission: to save and better lives,” said Ihor Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, president of Hackensack Meridian Health’s Northern Market, and the chief research officer of the network. “The federal grant in this case acknowledges their work and its promise.”
