KARACHI:Pakistani scientists had achieved a significant breakthrough in the fight against Covid19, as Dow University’s research team has prepared intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) with plasma obtained from the recovered patients of Corona virus through which COVID-19 victims can be treated, a release of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) said here Monday.

Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Saeed Quraishy said this way of treatment is safe, low risk and highly effective against Coronavirus. Through this method, Immunoglobulin is prepared after separation of antibodies found in the blood of a recovered coronavirus patient.

He said this method is considerably different from plasma therapy, adding that the treatment by hyper immunoglobulin (H-IVIG) is approved by the US Federal agency, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for normal conditions. Plasma therapy, on the other hand, is only allowed in emergencies due to its side effects.

A Dow University research team led by Dr Shaukat Ali has developed this H-IVIG after hard work. The team was able to collect first blood sample in March 2020 and managed to isolate antibodies chemically, purified it and later concentrated these antibodies using the ultra filtration techniques that remove the remaining unwanted materials from the final product.

The method is also a type of passive immunization but uses purified antibodies rather than the whole plasma. This treatment is considered safer and more effective than plasma transfusion as it does not carry the undesired component of blood like plasma proteins, potential bacterial and viral pathogens. Such purified antibodies are commercially available globally against diseases like tetanus, rabies, Influenza and hepatitis. The same strategy has been effectively used in the time of other viral epidemics like MERS, SARS and Ebola.

The team used blood donated by recovered COVID19 patients to purify antibodies, capable to neutralize corona virus. Laboratory testing and safety trial of the formulated product (experimental vials) in animals have been successful.

The lead researcher Dr. Shaukat Ali is principal of Dow College of Biotechnology and other team members included Dr. Shobha Luxmi, Syed Muneeb Uddin, Mir Rashid Ali, Ayesha Ali, Mujtaba Khan, Fatima Anjum, Dr. Sohaib Tauheed.

This is a major step towards international efforts for controlling COVID-19 disease mortality. Already six world renowned multinational companies have joined hand to proceed in the similar direction to produce IVIG from recovered patients; in this regard Dow University has taken lead in developing the first local IVIG against the strain causing COVID-19 disease in Pakistan.

It has already been proved that COVID-19 strain prevalent in Pakistan has a few mutations; hence, it is expected that the local IVIG against local virus strain will be very useful and efficacious, says the release.