Joint secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Aggarwal on May 8, 2020 said that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has initiated a multi-centre clinical trial called PLACID trial — “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 is the full form of “A Phase II, Open-Label, Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of Convalescent Plasma to Limit COVID-19 Associated Complications in Moderate Disease.”
- The study has received approval from the COVID-19 National Ethics Committee (CONEC) on April 29.
- ICMR has shortlisted 21 institutes for PLACID trial. These include five hospitals in Maharashtra; four in Gujarat; two each in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; and one each in Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana and Chandigarh.
- Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for COVID-19 patients. Plasma from a COVID-19 patient who has recovered from the disease, is transfused into a coronavirus patient who is in critical condition.
- The idea behind this therapy is that immunity can be transferred from a healthy person to a sick patient using convalescent plasma.
Source: The Hindu, The Mint
