Daily Analysis of 'The Hindu' - 6th June, 2020 | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


Shine a light
Improving India’s Covid Testing Rate
[ET]
Ease regulations to make India a drone 
hub [ToI]
A right time to shift pharma gears
Page 2


Shine a light
Improving India’s Covid Testing Rate
[ET]
Ease regulations to make India a drone 
hub [ToI]
A right time to shift pharma gears
Shine a light
?Two weeks ago, a study in The Lancet found no
benefit from the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to
treat sick COVID-19 patients.
?Today, that study stands retracted.
?As it had relied on a huge dataset of about 96,000
patients sourced from 671 hospitals in six
continents, the World Health Organization, citing a
‘do no harm ’ principle, suspended drug trials
pending a safety review.
?This led to some countries in Europe withdrawing the
drug from their own trials.
Page 3


Shine a light
Improving India’s Covid Testing Rate
[ET]
Ease regulations to make India a drone 
hub [ToI]
A right time to shift pharma gears
Shine a light
?Two weeks ago, a study in The Lancet found no
benefit from the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to
treat sick COVID-19 patients.
?Today, that study stands retracted.
?As it had relied on a huge dataset of about 96,000
patients sourced from 671 hospitals in six
continents, the World Health Organization, citing a
‘do no harm ’ principle, suspended drug trials
pending a safety review.
?This led to some countries in Europe withdrawing the
drug from their own trials.
?Another study involving some of the same authors and relying
on the same data published in The New England Journal of
Medicine, which sought to answer questions on the
associations between cardiovascular disease, COVID-19 and
drugs that target the enzymes that play a role in facilitating
the virus in attacking a host, has also been retracted.
?The Lancet study triggered a backlash from scientists who
found problems with the methodology and, more importantly,
the dataset.
Page 4


Shine a light
Improving India’s Covid Testing Rate
[ET]
Ease regulations to make India a drone 
hub [ToI]
A right time to shift pharma gears
Shine a light
?Two weeks ago, a study in The Lancet found no
benefit from the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to
treat sick COVID-19 patients.
?Today, that study stands retracted.
?As it had relied on a huge dataset of about 96,000
patients sourced from 671 hospitals in six
continents, the World Health Organization, citing a
‘do no harm ’ principle, suspended drug trials
pending a safety review.
?This led to some countries in Europe withdrawing the
drug from their own trials.
?Another study involving some of the same authors and relying
on the same data published in The New England Journal of
Medicine, which sought to answer questions on the
associations between cardiovascular disease, COVID-19 and
drugs that target the enzymes that play a role in facilitating
the virus in attacking a host, has also been retracted.
?The Lancet study triggered a backlash from scientists who
found problems with the methodology and, more importantly,
the dataset.
?It emerged that mortality attributed to the
disease in Australia did not match with the
coun try’ s own estimates.
?There was no way to tally patient records and
the hospitals they were sourced from.
?There were problems with the statistics deployed
and the conclusions about the potential risk from
the drug.
Page 5


Shine a light
Improving India’s Covid Testing Rate
[ET]
Ease regulations to make India a drone 
hub [ToI]
A right time to shift pharma gears
Shine a light
?Two weeks ago, a study in The Lancet found no
benefit from the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to
treat sick COVID-19 patients.
?Today, that study stands retracted.
?As it had relied on a huge dataset of about 96,000
patients sourced from 671 hospitals in six
continents, the World Health Organization, citing a
‘do no harm ’ principle, suspended drug trials
pending a safety review.
?This led to some countries in Europe withdrawing the
drug from their own trials.
?Another study involving some of the same authors and relying
on the same data published in The New England Journal of
Medicine, which sought to answer questions on the
associations between cardiovascular disease, COVID-19 and
drugs that target the enzymes that play a role in facilitating
the virus in attacking a host, has also been retracted.
?The Lancet study triggered a backlash from scientists who
found problems with the methodology and, more importantly,
the dataset.
?It emerged that mortality attributed to the
disease in Australia did not match with the
coun try’ s own estimates.
?There was no way to tally patient records and
the hospitals they were sourced from.
?There were problems with the statistics deployed
and the conclusions about the potential risk from
the drug.
?The bigger concern was that the data was supplied by
Surgisphere Corporation, which had a handful of employees
with limited scientific expertise, and claimed to have
aggregated its numbers by compiling electronic health records
in less than two months.
?Experienced clinical trial specialists said this was a labour-
intensive process.
?Moreover, when aspersions about the data started to swirl,
the company, citing client confidentiality, said it was unable
to share its data sources for independent assessment.
?In their retractions, the journals have blamed Surgisphere for
being opaque with its primary data.