Search

Israeli plasma vaccine appears to work as first 3 patients depart hospital for home

Hadassah announced it had treated its first patient three weeks ago.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

Hadassah Hospital has reported on Thursday that its first three patients treated with a passive Covid-19 vaccine have already been released to their homes.

The first results of the passive vaccine, based on the plasma of formerly infected patients, is very encouraging. Hadassah head Zeev Rotstein said that they should “raise hope in Israel and around the world.”

Hadassah announced it had treated its first patient three weeks ago. That patient, a woman with underlying conditions, responded almost immediately to the treatment.

The patients were treated with an antibody concentrate produced by biotech firm Kamada. Hadassah collected plasma from recovered patients who had built up antibodies and handed them over to Kamada, which developed its “anti-SARS-CoV-2 plasma-derived immunoglobulin (IgG) product.”

Also helping in the collection was the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) organization Yad Avraham and the haredi community,” and Magen David Adom, The Jerusalem Post reports.

On August 10, Kamada announced the first patient in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its plasma-derived vaccine.

“Following our announcement in June regarding the availability of our COVID-19 IgG product for compassionate use treatment in Israel, we are happy to report further advancement of our program with the initiation of this important clinical trial,” said Amir London, Kamada’s Chief Executive Officer.

Read  ‘Plug and play’: COVID-19 nasal spray’s nanotech could target cancer and other diseases

“We believe our product has the potential to be an effective treatment for hospitalized, non-ventilated COVID-19 patients with pneumonia, and look forward to the results from this trial,” he said.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Rotstein says the vaccine is being used as a “booster” to help patients whose condition is deteriorating to fight the disease.

Kamada says it is also looking into using its product to prevent Covid-19 in healthy subjects.