Drug safety research requires a SpaceX mindset

“Study retracted on malaria drugs’ safety for COVID patients” (ModernHealthcare.com, June 4) highlights concerns about data validity, reliability and sourcing in two COVID19-related studies recently published in leading scientific journals. Questions about how data was collected and analyzed reinforces the need for all drug studies, clinical or observational, to leverage state-of-the-art analytics platforms that can reliably and accurately validate collected data.

Global healthcare data registries can be a treasure trove of information, offering invaluable insights as researchers worldwide race to deconstruct the coronavirus and develop therapies to prevent and treat COVID-19. However, information aggregated from global databases must be collected and analyzed in a manner consistent with best practices and provide full line of sight to data sources accessed to ensure authenticity and accuracy. Artificial intelligence-powered analytics platforms exist that do a superb job of facilitating dynamic visualization, analysis and interrogation of data across clinical research programs, seamlessly integrating, curating and animating clinical trial data for more actionable insights and faster, more reliable decisionmaking.

Overall, the scientific community is putting its best foot forward to protect and improve global health. However, in these uncertain times we must adopt Elon Musk’s SpaceX mindset of collaboration, combining great scientific minds with great engineering minds to question the current “as is” study process and transform it into the “to be” process of the future, increasing the odds of reliable, timely results.

Only the most rigorous, scientifically validated, transparent research efforts will quell this pandemic.

Suresh Katta Founder and CEO Saama Technologies Campbell, Calif.