By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, May 10 (IANS): Concerned over the massive COVID-19 surge in the country, a Maharashtra researcher-cum-scientist has developed a unique stem-cell/platelet-based remedy to kill the Coronavirus "naturally, with anti-inflammatory bodies" and reduce the need for hospitalization of COVID patients by 65-75 per cent.

Navi Mumbai-based Urologist-cum-regenerative medicine researcher Dr Pradeep V. Mahajan, 61, said that the stem-cell/lyophilised platelet remedy is a proven protocol for COVID and post-COVID patients on OPD basis, without requiring hospitalization for targeting the primary lung disease.

Dr Mahajan - Chairman of StemRx Biosciences Solutions Pvt Ltd - said that the lungs are the prime target of Covid, causing maximum morbidity, highest stay in ICU/ventilators and deaths, and post-treatment, the patient requires oxygen for several months as lungs develop fibrosis.

"Most drugs, medicines, various forms of treatment and even vaccines fail to give the desired success rate as they are targeting the virus, not its environment. So, to survive, it keeps mutating, and we fumble for newer remedies. My protocol is simple - I tackle and strengthen the environment which kills the Coronavirus naturally," Dr Mahajan pointed out.

Elaborating, he said for this, his team acquires blood platelets - considered the first line defence of the lungs, followed by white blood corpuscles and platelets for the next stage of the healing process.

"We take the platelets from regular blood banks or donors, they are lysed, (to remove its walls to extract the granules), convert them into a powder and administer as a mixture through a Nebuliser or a Rotahaler directly into the lungs - similar to any asthma patients," Dr Mahajan said.

These pumps (Nebuliser-Rotahaler) are easily available for between Rs 250-Rs 1,500 apiece, while the stem-cell concoction used in them is prepared in a special lab machine.

Presently, Dr Mahajan has installed one such small capacity machine at the StemRx facility, Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri, Mumbai.

"At current costs, a patient would have to pay around Rs 600-700 per vial, needs 14 vials for a week, and then 1 vial daily for 3/4 weeks for recovery from post-Covid morbid conditions like lung fibrosis. Patients can be treated at home during quarantine, with our fleet of ambulances to help administer the solution to them, and eliminating the stage for oxygen beds or ventilators," Dr Mahajan smiled.

In the early phase of the disease, he claimed that the stem-cell/lyophilised platelet remedy works like a miracle, reduces hospitalization needs by over 50 per cent, axes a massive load off the government-private health network, besides preventing mutations of the virus and slashing post-Covid complications, as are being witnessed now.

Dr Mahajan's machine (Freeze Drier/Lyophilizer) - costing around Rs One crore - produces 3,000 vials daily though bigger machines can boost production enhancement to cater to major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, etc, within a fortnight.

"I have approached the Maharashtra Government, the Union Health Ministry and other states to help us set up similar facilities nationwide, or at least in all districts where Covid is taking a huge toll. We can overpower the virus by the year-end at a fraction of the costs now being spent per patient by the government," Dr Mahajan declared.

He added that stem-cell therapy/lyophilised platelet nebulisation would work complementary to other treatment protocols, at least till it can be produced on a mass-scale to make it available in every neighbourhood family doctor's clinic to be prescribed as 'home-treatment'.

The scientist is also exploring possibilities of local corporates or Members of Parliament funding one such Machine for his/her constituency out of the MPLADS to cater to the local population and prevent overloading medicare facililties.