Convalescent plasma is taken from a person who has recovered from an infection.  

The use of convalescent plasma has been dropped from the recommended treatment guidelines for COVID-19, according to a late Monday advisory from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The National Task Force of the ICMR, along with experts from the Health Ministry, periodically updates guidelines on recommended modes of treatment. Registered doctors anywhere, however, are not bound by the task force recommend- ations.

Though a trial by the ICMR on 400 patients last year — called the PLACID trial — had found no significant benefit from the use of plasma, it continued to find a place in the recommended guidelines.

Some experts have said the use of such plasma may have even played a role in facilitating new worrisome mutations to the virus.

The most recent study published in the British medical journal The Lancet on May 14 reported that in a double blinded trial involving about 5,000 patients who got the treatment in the U.K., again no benefit was found in reducing mortality, or on improving patient outcomes. The ICMR guidelines still recommend Ivermerctin and hydroxychloroquine for mild disease but has underlined “low certainty of evidence”.