I criticised Patanjali Ayurvedaโs 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 …
Medical Conferences sans Drug Industry Sponsorship
Medical conferences are fast degenerating into melas that educate, entertain, amuse and irritate and deceiveโnot 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 …
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 19: We need well-designed clinical trials
On June 23, Patanjali Ayurved claimed that its preparations, โCoronilโ 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 …
The many questions about Favipiravir
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, an Indian pharmaceutical company, to sell generic versions of Favipiravir for the treatment of COVID-19. This drug, originally invented by a Japanese company, was meant to treat influenza. After the outbreak of COVID-19, doctors in China and Russia started using it to treat COVID-19 …
Favipiravir and Covid
Dr Priya Mendiratta wrote a post on my poem on Favipiravir and Covid. Thank you Dr SP Kalantri for still guiding us to always practice ethically, not abandon logical thinking and scientific approach . Dr Kalantriโs thoughts on Favipiravir, a new oral drug launched in India yesterday by Glenmark to fight Covid19 infection. He is …
Clinical Research during Covid Era
On 18 June 2020, Dr. C. S. Pramesh, the Director of the Tata Memorial Hospital texted me a message and then called me asking if I would be willing to do a talk on Covid and research during Pandemic. A day after. Although I had little time to prepare, I didnโt blink an eyelid to …
Hydroxychloroquine and Covid: More Questions than Answers
WHO had resumed trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine as a part of the Solidarity Trial to find a cure for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. The trial had been stopped because a study published in The Lancet said the drug wasn’t as effective as touted. This study is now under the scanner after investigation by the …
Covid Vaccines
How are COVID-19 vaccines being developed? Several drugmakers have announced that they are moving to Phase 2 of COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials; the Oxford vaccine by Serum Institute of India backed by Adar Poonawala has started Phase 3 clinical trials. What do these phases mean? Should we think that we are close to a getting …
Primum Non Nocere
No other drug, at least in the early phase of Covid pandemic, evoked as much interest, publicity, blind and demand as Hydroxychloroquine did. It took a couple of well -designed randomized controlled trials to indicate that the drug does not work, and is associated with serious adverse events when used to prevent or treat Covid. …