Coronavirus: Bengaluru docs get nod for plasma therapy clinical trials

In what could potentially be a way forward in the fight against Covid-19, a team of doctors and researchers from Bengaluru were granted permission on Tuesday to start blood plasma clinical trials.

The team, under Dr Vishal Rao of HCG Bangalore Institute of Oncology, was given permission by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, under the Directorate General of Health Services in New Delhi to conduct "open label, parallel arm, Phase I/II clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma as a therapy for Covid-19.”

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A preliminary agreement was struck between HCG and Victoria Hospital to get the clinical trials underway.

"We hope to get started on Thursday or Friday. We are currently getting a Statement of Purpose (SoP) finalised with the government and we are seeking to enlist the help of 10 cured Covid-19 patients in Bengaluru to donate the blood plasma," Dr Rao told DH.

According to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, 48 people have been cured of the disease in the city, so far.

"This is a time of national emergency. We hope that some of those cured will heed the call," Dr Rao said, adding that researchers seek to collect an initial blood plasma amount of just 500 ml - which is half of the amount that a patient normally gives during a routine blood donation.

"This will help to get the trials underway," he said.

According to medical literature on the therapy, 200 ml of plasma is sufficient to treat one patient.

However, it is still unclear as to where the trials will be conducted and who is supposed to procure the antibody plasma. "That is yet to be worked out between HCG and Victoria Hospital," said Additional Secretary Jawaid Akhtar.

Delhi case boosts therapy

The efficacy of the therapy was boosted on Monday by reports that a 49-year-old critically ill Covid-19 patient on ventilator support in Delhi had made a swift recovery after he received plasma therapy.

The ethics committee of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) has cleared the therapy to treat critically ill Covid-19 patients. Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar, described plasma therapy as holding great promise.