ICMR has submitted a proposal to the Modi govt recommending the cancer drug developed by AstraZeneca, which apparently improved clinical outcomes of patients with severe Covid-19.
ICMR did not look for presence of neutralising antibodies, which fight off infection, as tests to detect their presence were unavailable when the study was launched in April.
The drug was tested on 40 patients during phase 2 trials. But, the govt’s expert panel found the sample size ‘inadequate’ to approve the drug for marketing in India.
Lancet notes the patient tested negative twice between the two positive tests & also highlights significant genetic variation in the two strains of the novel coronavirus.
Experimental antibody cocktail Trump was given has generated a row, partly because it uses embryonic stem cell research that has stirred the US president’s voter base in past.
The study says ‘there was no clinical benefit’ of HCQ as ‘pre-exposure prophylaxis’. India continues to use it among healthcare and frontline workers as a prophylactic drug.
The Italian term sprezzatura—a studied nonchalance that conceals intention—best captures the spirit of Trump’s foreign policy so far. The pattern is unpredictability, transactionalism, and disruption as diplomacy.
With 20.2 percent of its total loans in default by the end of last year, Bangladesh had the weakest banking system in Asia. Despite reforms, it will take time to recover.
Bihar is blessed with a land more fertile for revolutions than any in India. Why has it fallen so far behind then? Constant obsession with politics is at the root of its destruction.
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