A welcome change: On ICMR's clearance on using convalescent plasma therapy (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Health
Prelims level: Convalescent plasma therapy
Mains level: Convalescent plasma therapy and its effectiveness

Context:

• With the ethics committee approval in hand on May 8, the ICMR cleared the last hurdle to conduct a multicentric phase-2 trial using convalescent plasma on COVID-19 patients with moderate illness.
• Its three feasibility studies in about 20 severely ill patients found the therapy to be safe and able to resolve illness or improve the clinical symptoms.

Concern for safety of convalescent plasma therapy:

• Since safety of convalescent plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 illness is not a huge concern, the first stage of the human clinical trial has been skipped; the ICMR will instead study plasma safety and efficacy in a phase-2 trial with 452 patients.
• The patients with moderate COVID-19 illness will be randomly assigned to receive either convalescent plasma (226 participants) or only standard of care (control group). The primary outcomes of the trial in 21 .............................

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Convalescent plasma therapy:

• Convalescent plasma therapy, about a century old, has shown some benefit in treating measles, chickenpox and rabies. Small studies have shown faster clearance of virus in the case of MERS and SARS if given early in the course of the disease but no randomised controlled studies have been carried out.
• However, no benefit was seen in 2015 on some .......................................

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Conclusion:

• The ICMR’s insistence on an evidence-based approach to plasma therapy is in contrast to the cavalier manner in which it approved the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine, as a prophylaxis for coronavirus without carrying out any trial and relying on evidence that was slim and intended only for treatment, and also when the risks were unknown.
• If the trial outcomes are overwhelmingly positive, the agency would be ethically obliged to recommend plasma therapy as a standard of care for COVID-19 patients.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), consider the following statements:
1. nAChR is found in parts of the nervous system, muscle and certain tissues of organisms including humans.
2. Nicotine is known to bind with the nAChR receptor.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: ...........

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Mains Questions:
Q1. The pandemic is an ................................................................?