Context: 

The Ministry of AYUSH and ICMR are collaborating to conduct clinical trials to demonstrate the effectiveness of ayurvedic treatments in combination with modern medicine for certain nationally significant diseases.

ICMR Collaboration with AYUSH for Clinical Trials: 

• The collaboration will start with ayurveda, and other AYUSH systems may be included later.
• An expert committee will decide which diseases to test using both ayurveda and modern medicine.
• Clinical trials for each disease may have two arms: 
  • Modern medicine alone and a combination of modern medicine and ayurveda.
• The aim of combining ayurveda and modern medicine is to achieve better outcomes.
• Encouraging trial outcomes may lead to further trials using ayurveda interventions alone to evaluate their effectiveness.
• Understanding the mechanism of action of ayurveda interventions is not currently part of the agreement.

Challenges:

• The lack of scientific validation of AYUSH interventions, both as standalone treatments and as adjuncts to modern medicine, has been a major obstacle to their widespread acceptance and adoption.
• Previous trials of AYUSH interventions have suffered from major limitations, making their outcomes meaningless.
• Conducting rigorous, evidence-based clinical trials of AYUSH interventions will require significant resources and expertise.

Significance:

• The collaboration between the AYUSH ministry and the ICMR is a major step towards evidence-based validation of AYUSH interventions.
• If successful, the collaboration could pave the way for greater acceptance and adoption of AYUSH interventions in mainstream healthcare in India.
• The scientific validation of the combined use of ayurveda and modern medicine could lead to the development of integrated medical interventions that offer better outcomes for patients.

News Source: The Hindu