COVID-19: Maharashtra launches 'largest' plasma trial, 'Project Platina'

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday (June 29) launched convalescent plasma therapy-cum-trial project for treatment of critical COVID-19 patients with a state Medical Education Department official calling it the largest initiative of its kind in the world.

Convalescent plasma therapy, also called passive antibody therapy, seeks to obtain plasma from the blood of people who have recovered from the infection to inject into patients undergoing treatment.

“The project, titled Platina, is the largest convalescent plasma therapy-cum-trial project in the world. With it, we intend to save lives of some 500 critical COVID-19 patients. The trial will be held in 17 medical colleges under the department of medical education and drugs, and four BMC-run colleges in Mumbai,” the official said.

All critical patients will receive two doses of 200 ml convalescent plasma free of cost, he added.

CM’s son, Minister Aaditya Thackeray made the announcement on Twitter and said the project will also help the country’s worst-hit state create infrastructure for this line of treatment.

“This will not only give the world a large robust data for plasma therapy treatment but will also help us create infrastructure for this therapy across the state. The entire funding to support this plasma therapy trial has been done through the CM Relief fund and we hope this will be a landmark trial in the global fight against the COVID pandemic,” he tweeted adding that the state has been working on plasma therapy based treatment for the novel coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic in India.