Index – National – We have run out of money for plasma therapy, on which human lives may depend

I have a negative PCR test for Idestova for two weeks, which means that I have recovered from my coronavirus infection for at least two weeks. Illness is not a good word for me because I had no symptoms other than a baseline fever of 37.4 and a mild headache that lasted for two days. When I was past all of that, I decided to donate blood plasma.

My decision was hastened by the fact that, since an interview in September, I am friends with Zsombor Lacza, the scientific vice chancellor of the University of Physical Education, the developer of the plasma therapy used successfully in the treatment of coronavirus patients. The “dumb” researcher, like me, is a passionate runner who has repeatedly mentioned that on the one hand they have few donors who have been infected with Covid-19 and developed the antibody in their blood, on the other hand they ran out money and can continue today. therapy that saves dozens of patients who are serious and even seemingly fatal for days. (The funds raised through the tender have dried up, so much so that they now cover plasma collection and therapy from their own pockets.)

The place of the blood donation is the Inforpark in Lágymányos, ground floor of the E1 building on Neumann János street. Inside, you will be greeted by a pleasant atmosphere and impeccable cleanliness, the receptionist will offer you refreshments and snacks, the coffee machine will measure the cappuccino for free, as if you had been lost in a private five-star hospital. Here we even like to donate our blood, it runs through my brain.

I am not alone, three or four people fill out the mandatory questionnaire with me while I take turns, I have time to talk with the young doctor from OrthoSera Kft., Who performs the experiments and therapy, dr. With Eszter Fodor, coordinator of the clinical trial.

– says the doctor, because currently there is no other drug with this effect. Remdesivir and favipiravir are available in Hungary, although there is no doubt that both are effective. So far more than 170 plasma injections have been done, no side effects have been reported, and this is the most important. “

One wonders why only one hundred and seventy, when there are still more than five hundred patients on a ventilator. The answer is slapped:

“It is much more because at the time of the first wave, in the spring, there were only twenty-three blood donations. It is not like a tablet that a person is ready to buy and take, there is a lot of work involved. For this reason, the cost of a single plasma injection is 150 to 200 thousand HUF. What social security does not cover. We won HUF 33 million in a tender from the Ministry of Innovation and Technology for this purpose, we are already going further, currently our company covers the therapy out of its own pocket. Now we have a request for another thousand injections in front of the operational personnel ”.

Rural hospitals, Hatvan, Eger and others are constantly joining in clinical research.

Of course, there were some we could no longer help, but the recovery rate is much better than without plasma therapy. Inflammation levels usually go down the next day. “

We are here in the conversation when they say that I can donate blood. I lie on the bed, the nurse tilts the adjustment horizontally, disinfects my vein in my right elbow, places the “cuff” on my biceps, and then inserts the needle into the vein. And meanwhile explains:

“Grab this rubber ball and press it until the cuff looses. He takes a dose, then draws the plasma (it is a colorless substance similar to serum) and then returns the drawn blood minus the plasma. And we repeat this twice. It is much less stressful on the body than a simple blood donation. “

I am used to falling asleep while donating blood, the last time I was on Carolina Road in September, I still fall asleep, but I still feel more or less what is happening around me. While awake, I tell our video what is happening to me through the microport attached to my shirt collar, then the test tubes fill up, the blood donation ends. They prick the trace of the needle, I find out that I have to leave the bandage for four hours, because I also put an anticoagulant. In any case, it reassures me that my 111/70 blood pressure is not threatened by a stroke for the foreseeable future.

“What you were a part of now is still an experimental therapy,” says Lsza Zsombor, now in the waiting room. It will remain that way for some time, because the authorization process until this therapy is incorporated into blood supply protocols can easily take years. By the way, we are already planning it with the blood supply service, that is, working together, but the time is not yet. For now, all we can do is try to scale up this experimental therapy. It would be good not only to treat patients, but also to measure their results.

After 120 patients, the experience, as mentioned by the colleague, is that

Their laboratory parameters are improving, and those who have been hospitalized with a rapidly deteriorating condition have stopped and even reversed this process in many of them. How specifically you would vomit is still being investigated. But for this reason, for example, it would be advisable to include thousands of other patients in the system. Because we could do better statistics with a thousand cases. There are currently about 90 projects like ours underway in the world. There is also a control group method, but I think it is ethically unacceptable that we do not intentionally provide the potentially life-saving agent to members of the control group. “

We know very well that there is very little money, many more plasma donors could be accepted by the research team if there were resources to expand the project.

“Initially, ITM supported our research with grant funds, but now it is exhausted. The treatment costs two hundred thousand guilders per patient, even if quite a few actors work without reimbursement. But the common cost of two hundred thousand guilders per patient is still carried out, which includes finding and treating donors. Taking note of all this

Our request in this regard is now before the operational staff. If this is not accepted, the project can only continue to a very limited extent, and then we will face the terrible dilemma of who to treat and deny every day any life-saving intervention. Cover image: MTI Photo: Csaba Krizsán