Plasma therapy trials soon for state’s serious Covid patients

In a significant development, the Maharashtra government received permission to conduct multi-centric trials of convalescent plasma therapy on Covid-19 patients.

In a significant development, the Maharashtra government received permission to conduct multi-centric trials of convalescent plasma therapy on Covid-19 patients. For the first time in the country, trials will be conducted by a state on serious Covid-19 patients. The trials will be conducted at 21 medical colleges across Maharashtra, which is the most affected state in the country, with 94,041 Covid-19 cases.

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Currently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is conducting trials of convalescent plasma therapy on mild and moderate patients. In Maharashtra, they are being held at five government colleges and six private medical colleges.

“There is no ongoing trial for serious patients. The state medical education department has decided to sponsor multi-centric trials for serious patients. Around 21 medical colleges have been shortlisted,” said Sanjay Mukherjee, secretary, medical education department. “The Drug Controller General of India has approved it. This would be the largest trial in the world for the use of convalescent plasma as therapy for severe patients. If it is successful, plasma therapy will become standard practice in treatment of severe patients.”

In Mumbai, the trials will be conducted at Grant Medical College, Topiwala National Medical College at BYL Nair Hospital, KEM Medical College, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College at Sion, and Cooper Hospital Medical College.

While Mukherjee will act as the sponsor, Government Medical College in Nagpur will be the lead institution and Dr Shushant Meshram will be the principal investigator.

In convalescent plasma therapy, antibodies from the blood of a recovered Covid-19 patient are used to treat an infected patient. The process involves transfusion of plasma, a blood component, from a recovered patient to an infected patient. The therapy can also be used to provide immunity to those at high risk of contracting the novel coronavirus.

“We will be building a facility to conduct the trials at the colleges. It means infrastructure will also be created there, which will come as another advantage for the state,” said Mukherjee. “We are all excited as it is happening in the country for the first time.”

Officials said the trials will start immediately after approval from the ethics committee of the medical colleges. However, it will take 15-20 days to procure machines and equipment for places where it is not available. “Trials can be conducted on around 2,000 patients at a time in the beginning at all 21 medical colleges,” said a senior official, on condition of anonymity. “The process of making a list of donors, too, has already started.”

Who can donate plasma?

There are three criteria to make a person eligible to become a donor. The person has to have been infected with Covid-19 and completely recovered. He/she has completed 28 days from the time of testing negative for the virus and has haemoglobin level of 12.5 grams per decilitre.