Plasma therapy: “No magic bullets” for plasma therapy against COVID-19. Extensive trials required to prove efficacy: expert

New Delhi: Recovery period Plasma therapy Not a “magic bullet” to deal with Coronavirus, And only large control trial Despite the fact that several states are considering the use of therapies to treat patients with severe COVID-19, their effectiveness could be confirmed as part of a treatment strategy, according to top health experts. Said on Monday.

In this treatment, antibodies are taken from the blood of people who have recovered from COVID-19, and those antibodies are transfused into active coronavirus patients to kickstart the immune system and fight infection.

The Ministry of Health last week warned against its use, saying that plasma therapy for the treatment of patients with coronavirus is in an stage and can cause life-threatening complications.

However, some state governments, including Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Delhi, are keen to treat plasma therapy, and the center is most likely to deliver plasma therapy to a limited number of COVID-19 patients. State does not allow.

Leading healthcare professionals feel that COVID-19 treatment should not be seen as making a “big difference” and only randomized controlled trials can prove its effectiveness as an important treatment strategy.

Director of AIIMSDelhi, Rand Deep Gruglia, said that as far as COVID-19 was concerned, there were very few trials of convalescent plasma therapy, and only in some patients it showed some benefit.

“This is only part of the therapeutic strategy. It improves the individual’s immunity by giving what is called passive immunity to help antibodies in the plasma enter the blood and fight the virus in affected individuals. It’s not something this will change dramatically. ”

No studies suggest that it’s a magic bullet, or it makes a dramatic difference, but it’s part of the medical equipment that doctors have with other drugs, the elderly. Pulmonologist The above.

The ICMR has already called for proposals and many laboratories are enrolling in convalescent plasma therapy trials, he said.

“The important issue to remember is that not everyone can be given plasma, and blood needs to be tested — is it safe and has enough antibodies. antibody NIV (National Virology Institute), Pune, to show that the plasma you’re feeding has enough antibodies, “said Gruglia.

AIIMS said research should be conducted in a multi-faceted therapeutic strategy and should not focus on only one strategy.

“We need to pass it on to a large number of individuals, more than 200 or 300, and then analyze the data. In order to pass it on to a larger number of people to conduct a well-performed study, Go ahead. I know which one. ”

Dr. Vivek Nangia, director of Fortis Hospital, Department of Respiratory Medicine, MICU and Sleep Disorders at Vasant Kunj, said the treatment is only in an stage, but that clinical knowledge is involved and some behind it. It has been shown to be promising because of its and past experience with the SARS and H1N1 epidemics used in a limited manner.

“A disastrous situation requires desperate action. You have to think out of the box. This is one of those actions. If nothing else works, you can try this and it will be harmless.” There are pros and cons. ”I told PTI.

In support of Gruglia, Nandia also said, “A larger randomized, placebo-controlled trial is very important only if it can be the standard of care.”

The views of these experts were born in the absence of definitive evidence for or against the use of convalescent plasma therapy.

Patients reportedly received plasma therapy for the first time in a private hospital here were discharged from the hospital last week after healing, and those who received plasma therapy for the first time in Maharashtra died at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai.

Prime Minister Irbin Kejiwar Last week, the Government of Delhi said it would not discontinue clinical trials of plasma therapy to treat patients with some illnesses of COVID-19 because of good initial results.

Rajasthan’s Prime Minister Ashok Guerott will start convalescent plasma therapy on Monday for COVID-19 patients on Monday with ICMR approval, while Maharashtra, who started the study last month after ICMR approval, was approved by ICMR on Sunday. Will continue despite the warning of the Union Ministry of Health that it is considering.

Rajesh Malhotra, Chief of Trauma Center AIIMS, says there is currently no concrete evidence of the usefulness of convalescent plasma therapy.

“It essentially causes the body to develop its resistance in the form of chemicals called antibodies to fight infections, and on the assumption that the person who recovers has enough convalescent plasma to fight the infection. It depends, “Malhotra said.

However, it is difficult to create a predictable standard protocol because the extent and timing of human antibody responses is variable.

Professor AIIMS says that plasma treatment is the only way, and it’s too early to say whether it has its own risks, it is treatment at best at the moment, and without a large trial the definitive answer is He added that he could not get it.

Dr. Pankaj Kumar, Critical Officer Care Unit Fortis HospitalShalimarberg reiterated a similar view, saying that previous trials were too small to define treatment suspicions, so a larger trial was needed.

“Theoretically, it’s supposed to be useful because you’re taking antibodies from infected people, but it’s still … you need to weigh the risks against the benefits,” he says. I told him.

Dr. Atul Kakar, Vice Chairman of the Medical Department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, becomes very high in antibodies and free from other viruses.