Plasma therapy suspension

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has suspended plasma therapy for Covid-19 patients, even though a report had found this mode of treatment effective. In April, Drap gave its approval for clinical trials of the plasma therapy to save lives of the scary disease. Around 350 patients who had recovered from the disease had voluntarily donated their plasma to the National Institute of Blood Diseases and Bone Marrow Transplantation Karachi, and the clinical trials were conducted at Jinnah Hospital, Karachi and in other parts of the country. The trials, monitored directly from the President House, were carried out for two months. They were completed in August and the report was submitted to Drap, but the latter did not allow the continuation of the trials nor has it so far made the trial results public.

Now donors are justifiably demanding that they be informed about the efficacy of the plasma therapy. They ask if the clinical trials have proven the plasma therapy to be effective in the treatment of coronavirus patients, then it should be applied to save the lives of patients of Covid-19 for which a vaccine has not yet been discovered. According to a report, plasma of convalescent patients had saved 92% of critical coronavirus patients from being put on ventilators; and 80% of other patients had shown prompt recovery after 48 hours. The report had recommended that recovered patients’ plasma should be used for the treatment of moderate and serious patients. Patients’ recovery varied according to the stages of the disease.

The government should make the trial results public because people participated in the trials believing that the results of this research would help to improve the treatment of patients like them in future. Usually, consent forms also tell them so. However, records the world over show that unpalatable results are frequently left unpublished and are often withheld even from doctors. This might be due to the machinations of vested interests.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2020.

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