The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) medical experts are conducting clinical trials of a drug to treat patients suffering from the novel coronavirus, it was learnt on Saturday. A research team of the DUHS had announced in second week of the April that they had devised intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) with plasma obtained from the blood of patients recovered from COVID-19. The plasma teeming with anti-bodies was donated by patients after recovering from the illness. According to doctors, during trials the recovery percentage of the patients in extremely serious conditon remained 60 percent, while the recovery percentage of the serious patients reached to 100 percent while they were treated with IVIG. The research team initially conducted lab tests and animal trials, which were successful. In the next step they initiated clinical trials. “This is a very important breakthrough in the war against COVID-19,” professorShaukat Ali, the head of the research team had earlier told the media. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has extended its cooperation in the clinical trials of the drug, Dr. Shaukat Ali said. The research work on IVIG was initiated in March this year on the instructions of Professor Muhammad SaeedQureshi, the vice chanccellor of DUHS and later in the second week of April, the researchers announced breakthrough in the fight against novel coronavirus. Many countries across the world including Turkey, France and the U.S. holding clinical trials for plasma therapy or transfusion to fight the novel virus. However, the Pakistani doctor said, the treatment they have devised is safer and more effective than plasma transfusion as it does not carry the undesired components of blood like plasma proteins, potential bacterial and viral pathogens.
