SEARCHING FOR VACCINE
Montco firm launches nationwide blood collection to help researchers
“It is critically important that the scientific community has access to COVID-19 positive blood samples to advance medical discoveries. We have received hundreds of calls from researchers looking for these samples and most COVID-19 survivors want to do everything they can to help eradicate this disease.”
– Lori Ball, Biological Specialty Company’s chief operating officer
A local blood collection enterprise is launching a nationwide campaign aiding researchers as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sicken and claim lives.
“It is critically important that the scientific community has access to COVID-19 positive blood samples to advance medical discoveries,” Biological Specialty Company’s Chief Operating Officer Lori Ball said in a statement. “We have received hundreds of calls from researchers looking for these samples and most COVID-19 survivors want to do everything they can to help eradicate this disease.”
Typically, Biological Specialty Company’s facilities work to collect blood and blood products for research use, according to Jeff Widdoss, vice president of donor center operations.
There are several locations in Pennsylvania including Allentown, Colmar and Reading, as well as a fourth satellite facility in Medford, Mass.
Ball explained the samples are used by firms focusing on exploration at academic institutions, diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies.
“There’s a wide array of requests that come in for research samples that we can provide,” Ball said.
However, as the COVID-19 outbreak continued to spread throughout the world, Biological Speciality Company wanted to do more. Ball emphasized that as “this is a global problem, it’s going to take a global solution.”
Ball said the idea for a nationwide “athome blood donation service” came about in mid-March.
“This particular initiative is focused on the continental United States,” Ball said. “So we will literally go into any zip code in any state in any county.”
Several groups are eligible to donate. They include patients “who have been recently diagnosed,” who are currently fighting the coronavirus disease, and those who have recovered.
“We would like to collect on the whole journey of the virus,” Ball said.
Prospective donors will be asked questions relating to demographics including their age, race, gender, and if they smoke, according to a statement.
“Patients’ personal information will be
kept confidential,” the company stated.
Ball said they are ideally looking for a full cross-section of donors.
“The more diverse population, the better for research,” Ball said. “So we’re really talking about any positive diagnosis that we can get.”
So how does it work? According to a statement from the company, donors must be at least 18 years old and have received a COVID-19 positive diagnosis with “test results confirmed by nasal swab or sera.”
Ball said specialists will first make sure the prospective donor is eligible to participate in the program. The company will then make a “blood donation appointment” with a local phlebotomist — someone who has the capabilities to draw blood — and mail the “collection kit to the donor’s home.”
“At the appointment time, the local phlebotomist is deployed to the donor’s house wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (P.P.E.) to protect them during the collection,” Ball said. “The phlebotomist will set up the kit, explain the informed consent and collection process, and collect the blood sample. Then, they will send the sample to B.S.C.’s lab for processing and distribution.”
These blood donations could provide vital information in the diagnostic, antibody testing and vaccine phases in the fight against COVID-19.
“Our effort is to supply those three categories of research with whatever material is appropriate for what they’re conducting,” Ball said.
Biological Specialty Company has a financial incentive for donors.
“We’re offering compensation because we recognize that it’s a complicated thing for a COVIDpositive patient to donate,” Ball said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Biological Specialty Company’s Colmar center is “process[ing] material on a weekly basis as it comes in” at the center located at 2165 N. Line St., according to Widdoss.
He added that people who’ve fully recovered from COVID-19 and meet the Food and Drug Administration’s criteria of being “symptom free for 28 days” “can come into the donor center and donate larger amounts of material.” Ball stressed that the samples collected through the company’s program could have overall long standing impacts.
“Everybody’s worried about what’s happening next month and next fall and next year ... the donations that are taken from all over the country this year will matter to future research,” Ball said.
To learn about the donation process, contact the Biological Specialty Company at 1-833-GO-4-CURE or via email at donors@biospecialty.com.
For additional information, visit www.biospecialty.com.