Telangana Plans To Set Up Covid Blood Plasma Bank

Hyderabad, 9 April 2020:

The State health authorities are exploring the possibility of setting up a Covid-19 blood bank that would collect blood plasma from patients who were cured of the highly contagious novel strain of coronavirus.

The attempts to set up such banks is part of a larger effort by public health experts, doctors and epidemiologists across the country who are trying to explore the efficacy of Convalescent Plasma (CP) therapy in treating Covid-19 patients in India.

The CP therapy is among several therapeutic possibilities that have the potential to fight the novel strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) across the globe. The concept is to collect blood plasma, which contains antibodies, from the individuals who have recovered from Covid-19 and employ them on positive patients and enable them to fight the infection.

Why Convalescent Plasma?

Doctors and epidemiologists worldwide have applied the CP therapy successfully during several outbreaks in the past including swine flu pandemic, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) epidemic. Such treatment modalities are commonly known as adaptive immunotherapy, wherein the stress is on improving the patient’s own immune system.

In the last few months, researchers in several peer-reviewed scientific journals have said the CP therapy could used as a treatment for Covid-19 patients without the occurrence of severe adverse events among them.

KTR bats for CP therapy

A few days ago, IT Minister KT Rama Rao urged senior health officials to explore the possibility of setting up a Covid blood bank in Telangana with antibody-rich plasma from the patients who recovered from the disease.

The Minister took to Twitter to point out that Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Majumdar Shaw had called him and spoke to him about the possibility of opening a Covid blood bank and taking up the plasma therapy in Telangana.

Is there any evidence?

So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) has only stressed and focussed on infection prevention, case detection, monitoring and supportive care. It has so far not come up with any specific treatment modality for Covid-19.

The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) of the United States also made it clear that there were no drugs or other therapeutics approved by the US FDA to prevent or treat Covid-19. The FDA, which said that the plasma therapy had not yet been effective in Covid-19 patients, has, however, issued guidelines for administering the CP therapy to corona patients to encourage studies on various modalities.

The Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which have issued guidelines and protocols to use hydroxychloroquine as a preventive medication for high-risk population, are yet to release similar guidelines on the plasma therapy. Telangana Today