The Federal Health Minister has announced a potential new treatment for COVID-19 using plasma donations from people that have recovered from the virus is set to be produced by the end of the year, before being clinically trialled.

Greg Hunt said research and development, and later clinical trials, of the treatment would be carried out by CSL Behring Australia.

"They'll begin their production in Australia in the latter part of this year," he said.

The company plans to use antibodies from plasma — the clear or straw-coloured fluid part of blood — from recovered coronavirus patients to create a "hyperimmune product" that will "neutralise" the virus in other people who contract it.

CSL's Chief Medical Officer Dr Charmaine Gittleson said the plasma from former patients contained "immunoglobulins" or antibodies that would be harnessed to fight the virus.

"It's made by taking plasma that people who have recovered from an illness donate, and is then taken through specific manufacturing steps in order to provide this concentrated product that has the right amount of immunoglobulin treatment in it," she said.

"CSL in Australia will be leading this work and sharing its findings."

To begin, the company needs 800 plasma donations from people who have had the virus. Dr Gittleson said the first clinical trial would likely include 50 to 100 people.

"The types of patients that would receive this under a clinical trial are those patients infected with the virus who are in hospital and are starting to have difficulty with their breathing," she said.

But Dr Gittleson said hyperimmune products could also be used as preventative measures and the company was "interested" in seeing if the product's use could be expanded in the future.

"[It could be used by] healthcare workers who are inadvertently exposed and who are being exposed on a constant basis and so therefore to a high viral exposure," she said.

"But the first thing that we must do is look at those patients who are ill and where the greatest benefit can be gained and where there really is nothing else for those people."

Dr Gittleson said the first stage of research and development was "technologically difficult work" but the product would be important if Australia experienced a "second wave" of infections.

"The work that we're doing really adds to the arsenal of agents that could be useful if a resurgence occurs," she said.

Mr Hunt said while it was not a "guarantee" cure, it was "promising" and part of the broader research into vaccines and treatment being undertaken in Australia.

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