Approval sought for trials of new treatment at HCG Hospital
BENGALURU: HCG Hospital plans to propose to the government two new clinical trials related to treatment methods for Covid-19 patients. One of these is called Mesenchymal cell study for patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) where Mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow are given to the patient.
The other is developing a non-invasive test called neutralising antibody assay which will help find out at what concentration of antibodies present in the donor’s plasma does the coronavirus get killed. Dr U S Vishal Rao, head and neck surgical oncologist and robotic surgeon, who is also the member of the Covid consultative group in Karnataka, said, “Mesenchymal cell study is meant for patients with ARDS, are critically ill, on ventilator and can’t breathe.
Mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow will be infused in the patient’s body through injection over a period of a few hours.” These cells are being taken as they have anti-inflammatory properties.
They reduce the cytokine storm and reduce inflammation in the lungs. The aim here is to prevent death. The team at the hospital is waiting for inspection and approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The neutralising antibody assay test will also require DCGI approval as well as approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). If the antibodies in the plasma of the Covid-recovered donor are low, it will not work on the corona positive patient.
This test helps determine the number of antibodies present in the donor’s plasma needed to kill the coronavirus, so doctors can plan accordingly while injecting plasma. “However, this test requires a live virus and Biosafety Level 3 facility which is not available in India. In other countries, they take diluted blood in a bottle where the virus is present to gauge at what concentration of plasma the virus does or does not get killed depending on the concentration of antibodies,” Rao explained.
He added, “Therefore, we are making use of a new technique with the ELISA test. We do not use a live virus and instead take all antigens or components specific to the virus and test it separately. This way, we can find out how many antibodies are present so we can improve the efficacy of plasma donation.” The team is in the process of developing the concept note for this and expect to start the trials in the next 15 days.
Clinical trials at HCG
- Convalescent plasma study
- Cytokine Cocktail study
- Mesenchymal cell study
- Plasma Bank for Karnataka
- Chest X-ray screening with Artificial Intelligence
- Neutralising Antibody assay
- Targeted repurposed drugs