Coronavirus: ICMR warns against ‘indiscriminate’ use of CPT for treating COVID-19

“CPT [convalescent plasma therapy] did not lead to reduction in progression to severe Covid-19 or all-cause mortality,” the ICMR said in its observations after it conducted a randomised controlled trial among 464 Covid-19 patients with “moderate” symptoms across 39 hospitals in India.

New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has warned against indiscriminate use of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) for treating COVID-19. On Wednesday, it released report of an open-label phase II multicentre randomised controlled trial (PLACID trial) conducted across 39 public and private hospitals on the use of CPT in management of cases with moderate infection.

“CPT [convalescent plasma therapy] did not lead to reduction in progression to severe Covid-19 or all-cause mortality,” the ICMR said in its observations after it conducted a randomised controlled trial among 464 Covid-19 patients with “moderate” symptoms across 39 hospitals in India.

The top medical body had conducted an open-label phase II multicentre randomised controlled trial, known as PLACID Trial, across 39 public and private hospitals in the country on the use of convalescent plasma in the management of cases with moderate coronavirus infection.

"PLACID is the world’s largest pragmatic trial on CPT conducted in 464 moderately ill laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 affected adults in real-world setting wherein no benefit of use of CPT could be established," it stated.

A release issued by the Council noted that similar studies conducted in China and Netherlands have also documented no significant benefit of CPT in improving the clinical outcomes of hospitalised patients.

CPT involves the use of plasma from people who have recovered from the infection to aid the immune response of those still fighting it.

The advisory comes even as the Union health ministry is in the process to issue a standard protocol for plasma therapy and plasma administration for treatment of COVID-19 patients immediately, following a meeting held by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to assess COVID situation in Delhi.