The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday said that convalescent plasma therapy has several risks which includes life-threatening allergic reactions and lung injury.
The ICMR added that convalescent plasma therapy is one of the several emerging therapies. However, there is no robust evidence to support it for routine therapy.
In a series of tweets ICMR wrote, "Currently, there are no approved, definitive therapies for #COVID19. Convalescent plasma is one of the several emerging therapies. However, there is no robust evidence to support it for routine therapy. @US_FDA has also viewed it as an experimental therapy (IND)."
"#COVID19 convalescent plasma therapy comes with its own share of technical challenges, like antibody titer testing. There are also several risks of using this therapy including life-threatening allergic reactions and lung injury," ICMR added.
The ICMR further said that it has initiated a multi-center clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of using this therapy in COVID-19 patients in India.
"Despite the threat of #COVID19 #pandemic, there's a need to ensure the ethical integrity & establish the scientific basis of using #COVID19 convalescent plasma therapy in patients," they added.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Health said that there is no evidence that plasma therapy can be used for the treatment of the novel coronavirus disease. However, the Ministry added that the therapy is being experimented. He further said that till it's approved no one should use it, it will be harmful and illegal.
"Plasma therapy is being experimented, however no evidence that this can be used as a treatment. National level study launched by ICMR to study efficacy," said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health.
