ALBANY — Albany Medical Center is among the first hospitals in the country to obtain Food and Drug Administration approval to use convalescent blood-plasma therapy to experimentally treat critically ill patients who are infected with COVID-19. 

Convalescent plasma therapy — or plasma from a survivor of an infectious disease — was the same treatment used during the 1918 flu pandemic, according to a release from Albany Med.

When fighting illness, the body produces antibodies — proteins that counteract a pathogen. Antibodies remain in plasma for weeks or months after recovery. The antibodies in patients who have recovered from COVID-19 attack the virus and can potentially be useful as a treatment for the virus.

Albany Med’s first plasma donation was collected from an Albany Med employee who has fully recovered from COVID-19. It has been administered to a critically ill patient at Albany Med admitted with COVID-19.

Albany Med is seeking additional plasma donors for further research. Eligible donors must be fully recovered from COVID-19 with no symptoms for at least 14 days. Candidates will be retested to ensure that the virus is no longer in their system. Once approved, the donations will then be collected by the American Red Cross similarly to how blood donations are made.

To determine eligibility, those who have recovered from COVID-19 can call 518-262-9340 beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, April 10. 

The research is being coordinated under the Mayo Clinic’s protocols — the national testing site for the Convalescent Plasma Expanded Access Program.