Plasma Therapy dropped from Clinical Management Guidelines on Covid-19

The Indian Council of Medical Research has dropped Plasma Therapy from Clinical Management Guidelines on Covid-19. It was found ineffective in curing the disease or curbing the deaths.

This comes in after a meeting of the IMCR National Task Force for Covid-19. All the members were in the favor of removing the use of Convalescent plasma off label. While the previous guidelines allowed the off label use within seven days of the onset of the symptoms, the “revised” guidelines talk against it.

This was considered only after few doctors and scientists wrote a letter to the Principal Scientific Advisor, and IMCR Chief Balram Bhargava and AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria. They  pointed out that the current guidelines are not based on the existing evidence. It indicates a possible emergence of variants with lower suspectability to neutralising antibodies in immunosuppresed people given plasma therapy.

The current research shows its ineffectiveness despite which it was prescribed.