News Analysis Data on the effectiveness of convalescent plasma for hospitalized COVID-19 patients is still inconclusive despite more than a year since the federal authority first issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the therapy and many studies have been conducted. Findings from a recent randomized controlled trial suggest that convalescent plasma—the liquid component of blood containing antibodies—from people who successfully recovered from COVID-19, did not help hospitalized patients with the disease and may be harmful. The researchers, whose study was published in Nature Medicine on Sept. 9 said that convalescent plasma did not lower the risk of intubation or death. The researchers did note that the varied antibody content of the convalescent plasma may have changed the response to the treatment. “It has been thought that the blood plasma of COVID-19 survivors would help those seriously ill from the virus but, unfortunately, it does not,” Donald Arnold, coauthor of …