PGH: Plasma recipients showing improvement

MANILA, Philippines — In just a week, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) has seen an improvement in nearly all of its COVID-19 patients who have received blood plasma from people who have recovered from the disease.

Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, the PGH director, told the Inquirer that of the five patients who underwent convalescent blood plasma therapy since Monday last week, two saw their conditions improve while two others were prevented from further deteriorating.

The fifth patient died because of preexisting ailments.

“We are satisfied with the results. We are giving [this treatment] as the last step, [after] you have given everything,” Legaspi said.

Early this month, the PGH launched a blood plasma donation drive, urging COVID-19 survivors to donate blood two weeks after they tested negative for the new coronavirus.

So far, 17 survivors have donated blood plasma, including Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Legaspi said.

In this experimental treatment, the convalescent plasma in the blood, which contains antibodies, is collected from COVID-19 survivors and used to treat others suffering from the severe respiratory disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) previously allowed the use of this treatment in other outbreaks, such as Ebola.

Once screened and deemed qualified to donate blood, the PGH will collect 500 milliliters of plasma, which will be transfused to severe or critically ill patients.

Legaspi said that apart from the five patients, three more patients admitted in other hospitals had also received blood plasma from the PGH donation drive.

Though there is still no known treatment or vaccine for COVID-19, the WHO said there were already more than 70 candidate vaccines. Three of the vaccines are in the first phase of clinical trials while one is in the second phase.

In the light of Malacañang’s announcement that President Duterte would give P10 million to anyone who could develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday that while this could be “good news for the scientific community,” finding a cure for the severe respiratory disease was not that easy.

“Like any drug, this would undergo thorough research. Finding a treatment for a disease is an extensive process because we don’t want our patients to be harmed by the medicine that we would give,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

She noted that while some clinical trials were already being done in other countries, the results had remained inconclusive. Similarly, the off-label drugs being given to COVID-19 patients are still on the experimental stage.

“Based on scientific evidence, as of today, there is no proven cure for COVID-19 yet,” Vergeire said.

The US National Center for Biotechnology Information estimated that the development of a single vaccine may cost $200 million to $500 million, or P10 billion to P25 billion.

Funding requirements for vaccine development can take up the entire 2020 budget of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which is at over P20 billion.

The WHO earlier said that while vaccine research for COVID-19 “accelerated at an incredible speed,” it would still take 12 to 18 months for a safe and effective vaccine to be rolled out.

Vergeire said this was why the Philippines joined the WHO’s Solidarity Trial, which aims to test the safety and effectiveness of several potential drugs for COVID-19.

Drugs under study

Among the drugs to be studied under this program are remdesivir, a drug that is under research for the treatment of other coronaviruses; the anti-HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, and the combination of the two, and interferon; and the antimalaria drug chloroquine.

Locally, Vergeire said, the rheumatoid drug tocilizumab and flu drug favipiravir were among the investigational drugs.

She added that the DOST was also studying the benefits of virgin coconut oil as a dietary supplement for COVID-19 patients.