Why Kerala is looking at plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 patients

With a vaccine for Covid-19 still a long way off, experts in India and US will now test if blood from coronavirus patients who have recovered could hold the key to treating the sick. The convalescent plasma therapy includes giving patients plasma from those who have developed antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) through transfusions.On Wednesday, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) approved a protocol for “convalescent plasma therapy” submitted by a task force of doctors and scientists set up by the state.Kerala principal secretary (health) Rajan N Khobragade confirmed to TOI that the state has received ICMR’s nod for convalescent plasma therapy. “We received permission from ICMR on Wednesday,” he said.Dr Anoop Kumar, a member of the task force and critical care physician at Baby Memorial Hospital, Kozhikode, told TOI that Kerala would be the first state in India to start the experimental therapy. Convalescent plasma therapy includes giving patients plasma from those who have developed antibodies to SARSCoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) through transfusions.Dr Asha Kishore, director of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), an Institution of National Importance under the department of science and technology, in Thiruvananthapuram, said that since convalescent plasma was an experimental therapy at this stage, it would be undertaken as a research project to assess its effectiveness,” she told TOI. 75040924Kumar added that counselling of recovered patients to see if they would be willing to donate was already taking place in the state. The US Food and Drug Administration has also approved use of such therapy in clinical trials and for critical patients. In China as well, therapeutic products derived from convalescent plasma of recovered patients were administered to other patients to treat them.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved use of such therapy in clinical trials and for critical patients. American researchers are now setting up clinical trials under the National Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma Project. In China as well, therapeutic products derived from convalescent plasma of recovered patients were administered to other patients to treat them. large75042925The concept itself is not new. Convalescent plasma was used in outbreaks of the H1N1 influenza virus pandemic in 2009, SARS-CoV-1 epidemic in 2003 and the MERS-CoV epidemic in 2012. It was also used to help stop outbreaks of measles and mumps before vaccines were available. Initial research suggests it is effective for Covid-19 as well. On Monday, a new study published in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of National Academies of Sciences of the United States of America), said that a single dose of convalescent plasma from recovered patients significantly increased neutralising antibodies and led to viral clearance in 10 patients severely ill with the new coronavirus. Chinese researchers, who conducted the pilot study in three participating hospitals, also found that within a day or two of the transfusion, all symptoms in the 10 patients, especially fever, cough, shortness of breath and chest pain, disappeared or largely improved. medium75042805While randomised clinical studies would be required to determine benefits of the therapy, the researchers noted that preliminary results suggested that it could be “an easily accessible and promising option for severe Covid-19 patients”. Other experts also agreed that convalescent plasma could be a feasible option until a vaccine becomes available. “In case of the flavivirus family, which includes dengue and Zika, such a therapy has the opposite effect — it can help virus get into cells. But this hasn’t been observed with coronaviruses. So it’s unlikely that Covid-19 will be any different. But, of course, clinical trials and studies of reinfected individuals are needed to confirm this,” said Sayantan Bose, a US-based virologist and former research fellow at Harvard Medical School. boxcontent 75040792What is convalescent plasma?Convalescent plasma therapy involves transfusing certain components from the blood of people who have had the Covid-19 virus and recovered to people who are sick or those at high risk of getting the virus.How does it work?As people fight the Covid-19 virus, they produce antibodies that attack the virus. These antibodies are secreted by immune cells known as B lymphocytes, which is found in plasma or liquid part of blood that helps the blood to clot when needed and supports immunity. Once a person has had the virus and recovered, the person has developed antibodies that will stay in their blood waiting to fight the same virus should it return.How many patients can be treated with plasma from a donor?One person's donation of plasma can produce two doses of materials for transfusions. Scientists say that a person only needs one transfusion to get enough antibodies to fight a virus.Is it a new treatment?No, it isn't. The idea of using one person's antibodies to help another has been used earlier. The downside of the treatment is that it is expensive and limited as one donation can make only two doses of the therapy.Source: Journal of the American Medical Association