Plasma therapy clinical trials to treat Covid-19 patients begin in India

More than 500 Covid-19 patients at two government hospitals are involved in the trials of experimental plasma therapy

A severely ill man who underwent the therapy separately was off a ventilator and in a normal ward in five days, though doctors say it is no ‘magic bullet’

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The Max Hospital in Saket, New Delhi, where a severely ill Covid-19 patient has responded positively to experimental plasma therapy treatment. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:30pm, 22 Apr 2020Updated: 6:30pm, 22 Apr 2020

India’s first clinical trials of plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 patients started this week, coinciding with the case of a severely ill patient on a ventilator who was responding positively to the experimental treatment at a New Delhi hospital.

Doctors at Max Hospital in Saket are not taking part in the trials, but the desperate family of a 49-year-old man, whose father had already died of the virus, begged them to try plasma therapy as a last resort when he developed pneumonia and respiratory failure.

“In cases in which it’s a life-threatening condition, patients’ families can ask, on compassionate grounds, for treatment which has not yet been approved, but has shown promising results in other countries,” said Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, clinical director for Max Healthcare.

Plasma is a blood component that contains virus-fighting antibodies. In plasma therapy, plasma from patients who have recovered from Covid-19 – which has become known as “liquid gold” because of its colour and medical value – is taken to treat those who are severely ill with the virus with the hope that the antibodies will strengthen their immune system and help them fight the disease more effectively.

Since the trials had not yet begun last week and systems were not in place, the family sought out a plasma donor themselves. They found a woman who had recovered from the disease three weeks earlier, had no other conditions and was willing to donate her blood.