BENGALURU: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon, is hopeful of blood plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 patients who are seriously ill. On the much-touted Hydroxychroquinine, the recipient of Padma Bhushan advises that it is better to go by evidence. She says that the models adopted by Bhilwara in Rajasthan and Thailand should be emulated. 

We believe that you are working on a plasma transfusion procedure for the treatment of COVID-19. What stage is it in and does it require extensive trials? 

I am not working on it, but I’m helping facilitate it. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration a few days ago. It is simply a procedure to take plasma from those recovered, as their blood plasma contains antibodies. The enrichment of such plasma antibodies is almost like giving a vaccine dose and serious patients have a good chance of recovering.

Many countries, like Canada, Italy and China, have done it. We also should get ready for plasma therapy. I have been asking state governments to start collecting blood from live convalescent blood donors. Until Friday, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Delhi were working towards it. Kerala has also initiated this therapy.  

Columbia University’s Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee spoke about plasma transfusion treatment. He had also mentioned a small molecular drug. 

Dr Mukherjee is in contact with several US companies developing antibody-based therapies. We are seeing if we can work with them and develop such treatments.  

Working on vaccines or plasma transfusion... What do you think we should to focus on as priority?

The ultimate is the vaccine. Till you get it, you are not completely safe. Plasma enrichment, antibody-based therapeutics and antivirals like Remdesivir are all being tried. 

There is an SC order on free testing, but the private sector has explained that it is not feasible. 

The Supreme Court passed the order in response to a petition. Most of the testing labs are small and each government kit costs about Rs 4,500. These labs will find it difficult to bear the burden. A better solution may be for the government to underwrite these tests. Another option could be to look for insurance companies to bear the burden. Certainly, they cannot be given freely by labs.

What is your opinion on Hydroxychroquinine, considering that many are opposed to it? 

There is a lot of data saying it is working. Who am I to say anything? Let us go by the evidence. 

How is Biocon focussing on developing the vaccine or an anti-COVID-19 drug?

Biocon and Syngene are working on serological testing kits, antibody-based therapies and vaccines, and repurposing our drugs. We are working on small and large molecules, like Alzumab.  

How long should the lockdown be extended?

Lockdown is necessary. Because of it, in 21 days, we are in a better state of preparedness. In two weeks, we will be in an even better state of preparedness. We need to do heat mapping based on the risk levels. Areas marked red should have a complete lockdown. A second zone marked yellow/amber indicates a medium risk level, which may allow partial lifting of the lockdown and third, low-risk green zones should have bare minimum restrictions. 
 
Is the Bhilwara model for containment of COVID-19 replicable in other places?

We should emulate the Bhilwara model in Rajasthan, where a single district successfully dealt with the virus. It is practicable and the guidelines are available. 

You are connected with healthcare in Karnataka and Rajasthan. What is the road ahead for healthcare? 

We know this pandemic spreads through faeces, yet we see defecation, spitting and urinating in the open. Take Thailand for example. It is highly populated but has reported very few deaths. This in spite of huge tourism and foreigners travelling to that country. It has a good public health system and has built social immunity.