The Madras Medical College and Madurai Medical College will soon start trials for convalescent plasma therapy for the treatment of specific coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients.
Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar confirmed that Madras Medical College/Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) has got the nod for taking up the trial for convalescent plasma therapy.
Officials said RGGGH has got approval for both the multi-centre trial under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and also for institutional trial with separate approval from the Drug Control General of India and Clinical Trial Registry of India. The institutional trial is for severe COVID-19 patients.
The ICMR has initiated a multi-center clinical trial — “A Phase II, Open Label, Randomised Controlled Trial to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of Convalescent Plasma to Limit COVID-19 Associated Complications in Moderate Disease” (PLACID Trial). Both RGGGH and Madurai Medical College are part of this trial that is for moderate COVID-19 patients. Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said both RGGGH and Madurai Medical College would start the trials shortly.
