May remove plasma therapy from COVID management plan: ICMR

NEW DELHI: Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), said that the plasma therapy may be deleted from the national clinical protocols for the management of COVID-19. A few months earlier, plasma therapy was endorsed as a life-saving intervention for patients suffering from severe COVID-19.

Plasma Convalescent India (PLACID) trial by ICMR in September had inferred that plasma therapy failed to save people dying from SARS-CoV-2 infection. This was the world’s first and largest randomized control trial, which was carried out on 464 patients across 39 hospitals. Several other studies conducted on the efficacy of plasma therapy have suggested that it did not reduce mortality or progression to a severe disease condition.

Dr Bhargava said, “More than 350 authors contributed to the study” which he added will soon be published in the British Medical journal.