Experts: Avoid unproven drugs for virus
As the visit a treatment to COVID-19 continues completely swing, the national technical advisory committee on the coronavirus has warned against using any unproven medicine or plasma remedy to take care of coronavirus cases apart from the patients taking part in the clinical trials of these treatment options, reports bdnews24.com.
Doctors in Bangladesh have already been administering various drugs to ease the symptoms of the disease, including remdesivir, which has been tested as a particular treatment for COVID-19, and ivermectin, alongside convalescent plasma therapy.
According to them, the lack of a confirmed medicine is leading them to use these drugs to take care of patients although they acknowledged that more research to be achieved to determine their viability.
Experts, however, are apprehensive about the use of any drug before its efficacy is clinically tested and proven.
The Directorate General of Drug Administration approves the protocol for clinical trials of a medicine in the united states while Bangladesh Medical Research Council or BMRC issues the ethical clearance.
Notably, both these institutions declare that no doctor in the country has sought their permission to use any drug for the treating COVID-19 patients on an experimental basis.
Bangladesh has begun the clinical trial of plasma therapy, that involves collecting a blood sample from a recovered COVID-19 patient and transfusing separated plasma to a critically ill patient.
Plasma is a clear part of blood that is left when the blood cells have already been removed and contain antibodies and other proteins.
The disease fighting capability of an infected person creates natural antibodies to fight the virus. The antibodies grow in number as time passes in the plasma of an infected person. Through plasma therapy, the antibodies are being used to treat other infected patients.
The DGHS has formed a committee to oversee the clinical trial of plasma remedy which is being offered at different hospitals.
Families of COVID-19 patients are pleading with patients who already recovered from the condition to donate their plasma.
ON, MAY 16, Dhaka Medical College Hospital commenced the procedure of collecting plasma. They collected plasma from 21 persons by May 28.
Within the clinical trial, these have already been administered to 18 patients, four of whom were acquiring treatment in DMCH, said Dr MA Khan, head of the hospital's Hematology Department.
The DMC Research Ethics Committee approved the initiative, and according to the testing protocol, they’ll apply it on 45 patients, according to Khan.
“There’s no harm in trying to take care of COVID-19 with plasma therapy, since there is no medicine available up to now. Now many people are using the process in their own capacity. We are able to know the facts and results of plasma therapy if it is applied in a manipulated manner,” he said.
He urged the DGHS to ensure that plasma therapy is utilized in hospitals across the country good rules.
Earlier, doctors in Bangladesh Medical College Hospital administered ivermectin and doxycycline to 100 patients, nevertheless they have since stopped using it on patients, said Prof Tarek Alam Khan, internal medicine and respiratory system disease specialist.
“I saw a study in Australia that got fruitful results from using this medicine. I tried it on our patients and got great results. I believe we have to check it out on our patients,” he said.
“We’re preparing the protocol and could submit it to BMRC by next Tuesday. We expect to get approval for the trial on Jun 10, if they have a gathering scheduled,” he added.
Although the DGHS ‘guideline’ on COVID-19 treatment will not include the application of ivermectin and doxycycline, the medicines are being administered to patients in DMCH, Central Police Hospital plus some other public hospitals outside Dhaka.
Central Police Hospital's Director Hassan-ul-Haider said both the drugs were used to treat more than 500 patients with COVID-19 symptoms since Apr 25.
The results have already been good so far nonetheless it still requires detailed research, he said.
The DGHS guideline, however, makes no reference to the drugs so when asked why a healthcare facility is still with them, Hassan said, “Ivermectin and doxycycline aren't new medicines. They haven't any side effects and so are easily available at a low cost.
"I have applied them on a number of the patients in my own hospital who had serious symptoms and they recovered. I haven’t treated them with any other medicine.”
