Researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) are starting a trial that aims to learn whether plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients can help treat others infected with the virus or prevent the infection in people who are at high risk.

They have recently received a $35 million grant from the US Department of Defense to conduct two clinical trials that will happen nationwide and enroll 1,100 people in total. There are still no approved vaccines or treatments for the pandemic virus SARS-CoV-2. 

In convalescent blood plasma therapy, blood products from a COVID-19 survivor are transfused into people that are in the early stages of a SARS-CoV-2 infection to treat the disease, or potentially to prevent it from happening. The 'blood product' is plasma, which is made when white and red blood cells and platelets are removed from whole blood to leave a yellowy liquid that carries antibodies - the plasma.

"Blood plasma therapy may have the most potential in providing immediate immunity to people at high risk of COVID-19 exposure and treating COVID-19 early to prevent hospitalization or death," said study co-leader David Sullivan, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at JHU's Bloomberg School of Public Health. "For definitive proof of this, we need a rigorous randomized clinical study to evaluate it."