First American to Receive Placental Cell Treatment For COVID-19 is an Acclaimed Broadway Scenic Designer

Edward Pierce, 49, an acclaimed Broadway set designer for plays like Wicked spent five weeks in a medically induced coma after contracting COVID-19 and was treated at a hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey.

His condition slowly deteriorated due to organ failure, and there seemed to be little hope, so his wife agreed to use an untested method developed by an Israeli biotechnology firm. He made history as the first American to receive placental cells in around 15 parts of his body.

According to the Daily Mail, Pierce was off a ventilator and breathing on his own just within ten days of treatment. The treatment is said to be part of the Food and Drugs Administrations' 'compassionate use.'

Asleep for Five Weeks

Pierce first thought that he had the flu, so doctors only prescribed him medicines and told him to stay home. However, his condition continued to worsen, and then he was admitted to the hospital. Four days later, he was put on a ventilator.

At one point in his stay, doctors had to restart his heart after it stopped when he pulled out his breathing tube. Pierce told The Daily Beast that he felt scared at the time because he does not want to be not in control.

He remembered that doctors asked him to count backwards from 10 and her wife told him that she loves him, and he said it back to her. That was the last thing he remembered before waking up five weeks later.

A lot has happened in those times, including him having kidney failure and needing dialysis. Luckily, he did not have to have that. His wife began thinking of what life would be like if Pierce did not make it. She would receive updates from the hospital, sometimes the news was good, sometimes it was not so good.

According to Pixie, the doctors are running out of options to save her husband. So they ask her to authorize an as-yet-untested treatment that extracts stem cells from human placenta.

Compassionate Use

Pluristem Therapeutics, an Israeli company who pioneered the treatment said that 75% of COVID-19 patients had been taken off the ventilator, according to The Jerusalem Post. The FDA permitted the company to offer the treatment on a case-by-case basis to patients under 'compassionate use.'

Compassionate use is the use of a new unapproved treatment for patients who are seriously ill and has not shown any improvements after every other option has been exhausted.

The proposed treatment includes using cells from the placenta or the intramuscular administration of the company's PLX-PAD, which is used for severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and preventing the deterioration of patients towards ARDS and sepsis.

Within ten days, Pierce was taken off a ventilator and started to breathe on his own. Gradually, doctors weaned him off of sedatives, and three days after he woke up, his breathing tubes, feeding tubes, and catheters were all removed.

Finally, on May 1, he was discharged from the hospital after nearly seven weeks of treatment. He was then sent to rehabilitation to rebuild his muscles and regain strength.