COVID-19: A data challenge and a catalyst for new insights

  One of the key issues that arose during the pandemic, and arguably a factor that has led to more deaths, has been one of healthcare systems, public health and governments having insufficient or no relevant data on which to base critical decisions. The right data are not in the right place to answer the right questions at the right time. Yet, in the midst of this we have also seen remarkable collaboration on the scientific response to the pandemic, from diagnostics to therapeutic and vaccine research and development. We have learned a lot about the virus since its genome was shared by Chinese researchers in January.   Evidence at scale and at speed A very significant learning has been the need for real world, observational data, in the right hands, to research applicable insights from the past, contemporary insights from today, and implications for the future management of pandemics.    Studies of existing knowledge, such as the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) study-a-thon held in March and characterising the adverse event profile of hydroxychloroquine in rheumatoid patients, as well as international observational and randomised trials of its lack of efficacy in COVID-19 treatment.    Thestudy-a-thon is ongoing, transitioning into the SCYLLA and CHARYBDIS studies. They have produced manuscripts published or in preprint on hydroxychloroquine, but also on the role of antihypertensives in COVID-19 patients, on characterising COVID-19 patie...
Source: EyeForPharma - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Source Type: news