FDA issues emergency use authorization of convalescent plasma for COVID-19

President Trump on Sunday announced that the Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for the use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients.

The FDA said more than 70,000 patients have been treated with convalescent plasma, which is taken from people who have recovered from COVID-19, and the "known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product." Trump called the move "historic" and claimed the treatment will "save countless lives."

There is no conclusive evidence that using convalescent plasma works, and Denise Hinton, the FDA's chief scientist, said this "should not be considered a new standard of care for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. Additional data will be forthcoming from other analyses and ongoing, well-controlled clinical trials in the coming months."

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Trump, who has touted the use of everything from disinfectants to antimalarial drugs to treat COVID-19, recently accused the FDA of "making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics." Benjamin Corb of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology told The Associated Press Trump's Sunday announcement has "conspicuous timing. President Trump is once against putting his political goals ahead of the health and well-being of the American public."