06 Apr ’10 months of work in less than a week’: UW Health launching clinical trials of coronavirus treatment
Jeffrey Kluever, a 64-year-old from Wisconsin Lake Country, fought and beat COVID-19 and now hopes to donate his plasma for use in patients who are still sick with the disease.
UW Health Center
His donation could go toward a clinical trial announced Monday, in which doctors at UW Health in Madison will begin using survivor plasma in an attempt to rescue the most severely ill.
The UW trial is part of a nationwide effort to launch clinical trials testing the effectiveness of the treatment.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it and fully understand the complete seriousness of the virus,” Kluever said of COVID-19, which he contracted while on a ski trip in Austria in late February or early March. “I have huge respect for those taking appropriate actions so that other people don’t have to get exposed.”
Just one week ago UW Health and UW School of Medicine and Public Health joined Johns Hopkins in the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, a grass-roots effort that involves 40 large hospitals and institutions, plus Amazon, Federal Express, the American Red Cross and the New York Blood Center.
More than 3,600 recovered COVID-19 patients have volunteered to donate their plasma since the project launched its website 11 days ago.
William Hartman, an anesthesiologist at UW Health who will lead the effort in Madison, said that to prepare the clinical trial, he and a team of colleagues worked around the clock “to complete approximately 10 months of work in less than a week.”
At UW, Hartman said recovered COVID-19 patients can arrange to donate their plasma by calling 608-262-8300 or toll-free 833-306-0681 or emailing uwcovid19project@hslc.wisc.edu.
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