DMCH set to begin clinical trial of plasma therapy on COVID-19 patients

Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) is set to conduct plasma therapy on patients diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The hospital will begin the clinical trial on Saturday using the test kits that are currently available to them, according to MA Khan, head of DMCH's haematology department.

Initially, only COVID-19 patients at DMCH will undergo the experimental treatment. It will later be expanded to patients in other hospitals in Dhaka.

DMCH will be the centre of the therapy but Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital is also interested in conducting the procedure.

The procedure for plasma therapy involves collecting a blood sample from a recovered Covid-19 patient and transfusing separated plasma to a critically ill patient. Plasma is a clear part of blood that is left when the blood cells have been removed and contains antibodies and other proteins.

The immune system of an infected person creates natural antibodies to fight the virus. The antibodies grow in number over time in the plasma of an infected person. Through plasma therapy, the antibodies are used to treat other infected patients.

“We already have some donors and urge others who have recovered from the disease to come forward and donate plasma,” said Dr Khan.

Initially, DMCH will bear the costs of the clinical trials but they will require government assistance if the process is later expanded, he added.

A kit used for collecting plasma from a donor’s body costs around Tk 12,000. Another type of kit, used to run the ALIZA test that determines the amount of antibodies in a donor’s blood, costs Tk 150,000. DMCH has already ordered four such kits from Spain. Each kit is capable of testing 90 samples.

“We have very few plasma collection kits available to us. We can’t ask the patients to pay for the kit and they also won’t be willing to bear the expenses. The government can supply the kits.”

As the therapy is still at an experimental stage, a patient will have to go through several tests. Some of these will be done at DMCH while others will be conducted elsewhere, which also has a cost, according to Dr Khan.

The hospital is yet to receive any assurance from the Directorate of Health Services regarding financial assistance, he said.

The therapy, however, is not guaranteed to completely cure COVID-19 patients, according to Dr Khan.

“There’s no specific treatment for COVID-19. However, there’s no harm in experimenting with plasma therapy as it has no side effects. Different studies show that the therapy has been successful in 4o to 80 per cent of cases.”

It may also help keep health workers and police, who are battling the disease on the frontlines, safe for at least a month, according to experts.

The funds needed to carry out the plasma therapy programme are yet to be finalised, according to DGHS Director Aminul Hasan.

However, the health minister has been informed about the experimental treatment and has heard about a proposal from the DGHS regarding it, said Additional Secretary Habibur Rahman. “I’ll check with all the wings of the ministry for updates on the proposal.”

Bangladesh reported its first cases of the novel coronavirus on Mar 8. It has since infected 18,863 people and killed 283 others. Globally, over 4.35 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 297,251 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019 but even developed countries have been struggling to contain the pandemic. Plasma therapy is currently being tried in different countries, including the UK and USA, to treat COVID-19 patients.

On Apr 19, the DGHS formed a four-strong expert panel led by Dr Khan to try out the therapy in Bangladesh.