Convalescent plasma therapy trials soon

08/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, CHENNAI

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.

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 ICMR has initiated a multi-center clinical trial. Both RGGGH and Madurai Medical College are part of this trial. Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said both RGGGH and Madurai Medical College would start the trials shortly.