Covid-19: Delhi’s ILBS gets nod for trials to test plasma therapy efficacy

The therapy uses plasma – a component of blood – extracted from healthy patients who have recovered from Covid-19 to treat those who are critical.

The Drug Controller General of India has given its approval to the Delhi-based Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) to conduct trials to test the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy for serious coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients.

However, no antibody tests are available in the country now, as it is not manufactured in India. (Reuters file photo. Representative image)

The therapy uses plasma – a component of blood – extracted from healthy patients who have recovered from Covid-19 to treat those who are critical. The immune system creates an antibody to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, when it enters a human body. This antibody remains in the human body even after the virus has cleared out.

“The antibodies from the recovered person will theoretically help critical patients in fighting the infection. It can be beneficial in the absence of any other vaccines to treat Covid-19. This procedure has been tried for several other viral diseases as well,” said Dr Sarin, director, ILBS.

“We take around 300-500 millilitres of blood from those healthy people who have recovered from the infection and have high antibody level, from which plasma is derived, frozen and then administered to patients who are critical and have no other form of treatment available to them,” he said.

However, no antibody tests are available in the country now, as it is not manufactured in India.

“India doesn’t manufacture antibody testing kits. This makes it impossible to measure the antibody levels of a Covid-19 patient who has recovered. We’re choosing only those healthy patients who have recovered, as they are likely to have a good immunity response,” said Dr Sarin.

The trial will be conducted only on healthy individuals, who have recovered from Covid-19 and will act as donors. The donors must not have comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, no heart condition and below 60 years of age.

The therapy will be given only to the critical patients such as those with a respiratory rate higher than 30 (normal is 20), have an oxygen saturation of less than 90% (normal is 95 to 100%), or have pus in their lungs.

“Dr Meenu Bajpai will do the extraction at an isolated area at ILBS, and it will be administered to patients admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital under the supervision of Dr Suresh Kumar from Maulana Azad Medical College,” said Dr Sarin.

As per the trial procedures, 10 patients will be randomly administered plasma therapy and an equal number will receive a placebo, as in it will devoid of any therapeutic effect but help in testing new drugs.

The procedure will determine whether those who received the plasma recover faster than those who did not.

“Healthy Covid-19 patients, who have recovered, should come forward to help those who are critical,” Dr Sarin added.