New Delhi, Oct 6 (UNI) Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava on Tuesday said the council has decided to use horse serum as an alternative for Corona patients as plasma therapy is not effective and clinical trials of equine serum has been approved.

Dr Bhargava told a regular press briefing of the Health Ministry today that plasma therapy was tested on 464

Covid-19 patients in 39 private and government hospitals across the country between April 22 and July 14 to

find out the effect of the therapy on patients. More than 350 doctors participated in this trial.

The tests showed that patients with moderate symptoms of Corona infection and critically ill patients did not

benefit from plasma therapy nor did it help prevent less severe cases of Corona infection from becoming

serious.

"Nor did it reduce the number of deaths due to Corona," he added.

Research done by ICMR in this regard has been reviewed and it has been approved for publication as a research

paper in the British Medical Journal (BMG) and will be published soon.

Dr Bhargava informed that Separated Equine Antiserum has been developed by National Institute of Virology,

Pune as an alternative due to the ineffectiveness of plasma therapy. It has been tested on animals. Now its

clinical trial has also been approved.

The USFDA approved emergency use of plasma therapy for hospitalised Covid patients on August 28. ICMR,

however, started looking for other alternatives in view of the difficulties related to plasma therapy and

its effect on patients.

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