Coronavirus pandemic: An interview with Prof. Holger Hackstein

FAU transfusion physician on the use of COVID-19 immune plasma

‘The great advantage of COVID-19 immune plasma is that we can use it immediately for patient therapy,’ explains Prof. Dr. Holger Hackstein, Chair of Transfusion Medicine and Cell Engineering at FAU and head of the Department of Transfusion Medicine and Haemostaseology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen. After the physician received permission from the authorities last week to produce immune plasma from the blood of healed COVID-19 patients, the first treatments are now pending in Erlangen.

‘How the plasma works in therapy is actually quite simple. Anyone who has COVID-19 produces specific defences against the disease, known as antibodies. These are protein molecules that bind to the surface of the virus and directly inhibit its multiplication or indirectly assist other immune cells in destroying the virus,’ explains Hackstein. Through blood transfusion, this protection is transferred passively to the immune system of patients with severe illnesses, providing them with better protection against this life-threatening viral disease.

‘The first scientific results have already been announced in China and other countries and they are extremely positive,’ emphasises Hackstein. ‘A first pilot study showing very positive results has just been published in PNAS, a very high-ranking international journal. I would be very pleased if we could replicate this, too.’ Controlled clinical trials on the efficacy of COVID-19 immune plasma are not yet in place, but are currently being initiated by various parties. Researchers around the world are also working to increase antibodies in the laboratory. ‘But these developments are still relatively far from clinical application,’ says Hackstein.
At the moment, the availability of immune plasma is scarce. ‘We are doing all we can here.’

Meanwhile, other transfusion institutes in Bavaria are now also following this path. Hopefully this will mean that the supply situation will improve in the near future. ‘But at the end of the day, nobody really knows exactly how the next few weeks will develop,’ says Hackstein.

Prof. Dr. Holger Hackstein talks about how his work as a transfusion physician has changed since the coronavirus pandemic, how special regulations of pharmaceutical law facilitate current work and how he assesses the preparations of Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, in a YouTube talk with host Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger, President of FAU.

You can watch the video with English subtitles on Youtube.