AIIMS To Conduct Clinical Trials Of Plasma Therapy

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences is planning to conduct a clinical trial of the convalescent plasma therapy in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Tuesday. The modalities of taking the approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) is being worked out, official sources said.

Stating that the mode of treatment in Covid-19 is still at an “experimental stage”, Guleria stressed on the need to have good and well-conducted research trials before its benefit, and this mode of therapy can be recommended for routine use in coronavirus patients. “AIIMS is working with the ICMR to conduct a clinical trial on the efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy in Covid-19 patients,” he said. The doctor said it is necessary for all institutes to take necessary approvals from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and DCGI and follow proper clinical practice guidelines for this research.

“In very limited studies, globally, convalescent plasma as an adjunct to other supportive therapies and treatments has shown some benefit in the management of severe patients of Covid-19,” Guleria said. He also underlined that plasma has to be tested for its safety and it should have sufficient antibodies to be useful for giving it to Covid-19 patients. “Giving plasma from a recovered patient without testing whether it has enough antibody titer or not may cause more harm than good as it can cause transfusion-related reactions,” he said.

Dr Vivek Nangia, Director and Head, Pulmonology, Medical Critical Care and Sleep Disorders at Fortis hospital here, said the health ministry has made the “right move to dispel any notion attached to plasma therapy” as far as Covid-19 is concerned, and added there is no specific treatment for the disease as of now. “One should not be giving false hope to patients,” he stated. “This is a new virus and no specific treatment for this disease, whether it is hydroxychloroquine or plasma therapy. These are all conjectural therapies or experimental therapies,” he said.

–Business Standard