The Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday that a number of businesses are offering plasma transfusions from young donors, saying that there is no proven benefit of such transfusions and that the procedures could be risky.
“We’re concerned that some patients are being preyed upon by unscrupulous actors touting treatments of plasma from young donors as cures and remedies,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a joint statement with Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
People have turned to plasma transfusions to try to slow or reverse aging and to remedy diseases like dementia and multiple sclerosis, as well as for other purposes, the FDA said. Yet, none of those treatments have gone through the FDA’s testing and research.
“Our concerns regarding treatments using plasma from young donors are heightened by the fact that there is no compelling clinical evidence on its efficacy, nor is there information on appropriate dosing for treatment of the conditions for which these products are being advertised,” Gottlieb and Marks said.
The FDA officials maintained that some businesses are preying upon patients with wild claims that plasma treatments can solve any ailment and warned that they could crack down on clinics that abuse patients or falsely advertise cures.
“As a growing number of clinics offer plasma from young donors and similar therapies, we want to encourage consumers considering treatments to ask their healthcare providers to confirm that the FDA has reviewed any treatment that is investigational,” said Gottlieb and Marks.