Plasma therapy has been removed from the guidelines pertaining to Covid treatment. According to late Monday advisory from ICMR, use of convalescent plasma from the recommended treatment guidelines has been dropped.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the experts from the Health Ministry update the guidelines of treatment periodically. Last year as per ICMR report, no significant benefits of the plasma therapy known as PLACID trial were found.

It has also been pointed out that the several other international trials also found no benefit from the plasma therapy. The experts also said that there are all the probabilities that the plasma therapy may have played a role in facilitating new worrisome mutation to the virus.

The trial results are in concurrence with a November 2020 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine where researchers found that “no significant differences were observed in clinical status or overall mortality between patients treated with convalescent plasma and those who received placebo.” 

The medical experts who continue to vouch for the potential effectiveness of plasma therapy argue that if undertaken at the early stage of infection, it might prove to be effective.

(source:TH and TNN)