Malacañang welcomes start of gov't study on use of blood plasma as COVID-19 treatment

Published July 5, 2020 7:23am

Convalescent plasma is collected from some of Britain's first-recovered COVID-19 patients as part of a clinical trial, to be transfused to patients struggling to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Tooting Blood Donor Centre, in Tooting, London, Britain April 25, 2020. Picture taken April 25, 2020. Kirsty Hamilton/NHSBT/Handout via REUTERS

Malacañang on Saturday said it welcomes the start of a government-funded study on the use of convalescent blood plasma to help treat COVID-19.

Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato de la Peña earlier announced the start of the said study, which is being done at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) with funding from DOST.

"We note that the study is banking on the use of convalescent plasma taken from the blood of patients who have recovered from the infection, and therefore contains neutralizing antibodies against the virus," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

"We hope this study will yield positive results and be our country's contribution to the global effort to develop COVID-19 treatment," he added.

Plasma therapy is currently being evaluated as treatment for patients with serious or immediately life-threatening COVID-19 infections. It involves infusing a patient with plasma from the blood of a COVID-19 survivor to help fight the virus.

READ: What is convalescent plasma, and why is it yellow?

Plasma from the blood of a recovered COVID-19 patient contains antibodies, proteins produced by the body to neutralize or destroy toxins or disease-carrying organisms.

When infused into a patient still battling the disease, it can potentially help fight the virus. It has been reportedly used in China and South Korea.

A small study conducted in the US showed patients with severe COVID-19 were more likely to stabilize or need less oxygen support when given plasma from a person who recovered from the disease.

Some COVID-19 survivors in the Philippines have already donated blood plasma, among them GMA News anchor Howie Severino, Senator Sonny Angara, actor Christopher de Leon, actress Iza Calzado and Dr. Jennifer Rodriguez, a cardiology fellow of St. Luke's Medical Center.

In May, PGH said five out of the nine patients who received convalescent plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 have survived the illness. —KG, GMA News

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