An inside look at the making of a new COVID-19 treatment is playing out in Johnston County.

The biotherapeutic company Grifols is hoping to send the first doses of their new medication to clinical trials sometime in July.

The treatment uses donated plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19.  The antibodies are then extracted from the plasma that’s purified before it’s then given to patients by transfusion.

On Thursday, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Eric Hargan toured Grifols and said the new therapy could potentially complement others, like Remdesivir.

“Convalescent plasma is a tried technology, but to apply it to this particular disease, that’s what we are working through right now, exactly how it will be used and would it be used with a combination with a number of other things,” said Hargan.

Hargan hopes to see a vaccine in January.

In the meantime, he said the government is focused on innovation from the private sector, like Grifols, to give the public more confidence that if they get sick they can they’ll be healed.