Palace welcomes DOST study on use of blood plasma for COVID-19 patients

July 5, 2020

Malacañang on Saturday said the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is set to start a study on the use of convalescent plasma as adjunctive therapy for patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“The Palace welcomes the announcement of Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña on the start of the government-funded study looking on the use of convalescent blood plasma as one of the modes of therapy for COVID-19,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

Roque said the use of convalescent plasma as adjunctive therapy for patients hospitalized for COVID-19 is being undertaken by the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, with funding support from the DOST.

“We note that the study is banking on the use of convalescent plasma taken from the blood of patients who have recovered from the infection, and therefore contains neutralizing antibodies against the virus,” he said.

“We hope this study will yield positive results and be our country's contribution to the global effort to develop COVID-19 treatment,” he added.

Last June, the DOST- Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) said aside from potentially developing locally-produced convalescent plasma which may be used as part of the COVID-19 treatment regime, the project also aims to strengthen the capacities of healthcare professionals in its clinical use, not only for COVID-19, but also for other emerging infections in the future.

The team started the call for blood donations from COVID-19 survivors last April and the project will run for 12 months.

“For the past months, we have been mobilizing our resources and maximizing our capacities to help combat COVID-19,” DOST-PCHRD Executive Director Jaime Montoya said.

“Through this project, we are hoping to provide supportive treatment to COVID-19 patients to avoid worst-case scenarios,” he added.

Montoya said if the project proves to be successful, this can also contribute to developing a treatment that will help reduce the mortality rate of COVID-19.

According to Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Program of the World Health Organization (WHO), the use of convalescent plasma transfusion is a valid approach in treating infectious diseases as demonstrated in previous outbreaks such as the H1N1 influenza virus pandemic, 2003 SARS-CoV-1 epidemic, and the 2012 MERS-CoV epidemic.

Ryan earlier explained that through the transfusion, “you're giving (the patients) a boost of antibodies to hopefully get them through the very difficult phase.” Ella Dionisio/DMS