SP Kalantri

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Covid

Clinical Trials in Covid: Ethics and Practice

Fear. Panic. Desperation.  Came Covid and most doctors began to prescribe anti-Covid drugs based not on scientific research, but based on anecdotes, media stories, newspapers, TV channels and promotion of drugs by the drug industry. The virus pushed the Evidence-based medicine to the back seat. Physicians were either reluctant to— or didn’t know how to— …

Covid

COVID-19: The need for evidence-based medicine

A number of old drugs approved for other diseases are being “repurposed” and tested for their safety and efficacy in COVID-19, in systematic clinical trials. They have emergency approval for use in COVID-19, but most are not yet proven for this use. Some drugs have received approval without adequate testing. Other drugs are being used …

Covid

Covid and Ayurveda

I criticised Patanjali Ayurveda’s claimed cure for COVID-19 for making unsubstantiated claims of efficacy. The drugs it is offering are untested and unproven. They haven’t proven their mettle in a well-conducted adequately sized randomized controlled trial. The proponents of Ayurveda, however, ask – can Ayurveda, or alternative medicine in general, be evaluated in the same …

Drug Industry

Medical Conferences sans Drug Industry Sponsorship

Medical conferences are fast degenerating into melas that educate, entertain, amuse and irritate and deceive—not necessarily in that order. One can smell, see and feel the drug industry everywhere, advertising on the walls, shaping the contents and style of educational programmes, tempting with gifts and free meals, travel and other amenities. In 2003, MGIMS became …

Covid

Ethical Challenges of Research in a Pandemic

The pressure for an effective treatment or vaccine for COVID-19 is high. There are more than 2,000 studies on COVID-19 across the world; many of these are trials on humans to develop vaccines, and to test the efficacy of drugs for this new disease. The urgency of this pandemic presents new, acute ethical challenges in …

Covid

Covid 19: We need well-designed clinical trials

On June 23, Patanjali Ayurved claimed that its preparations, ‘Coronil’ would cure COVID-19 in just a week.  Scientists, researchers, physicians and media registered their strong protest and expressed robust disbelief for the outrageous and misleading ads.  The company claimed that their medicine was tested in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) among COVID-19 positive patients and …