Health Technology & Diseases

GS Paper: GS Paper III | Subject: Science & Technology

Prelims

(Key facts, data, schemes, laws, organizations — MCQ-ready points)

New once-daily oral pill (a KRAS inhibitor) nearly doubled survival time in advanced pancreatic cancer in a large international trial (results presented at the ASCO — American Society of Clinical Oncology — meeting)
Target — KRAS gene: a cancer-driving mutation present in ~90% of pancreatic tumours; long considered "undruggable"
Why pancreatic cancer matters: one of the deadliest cancers — 5-year survival only ~13%; ~7% of all cancer deaths
Median survival for advanced disease barely improved in decades — ~6 months (late 1990s) → ~9–12 months today; this pill is a step-change

WHO says confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ebola outbreak rose to 344
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: the outbreak "had a big head start" — flagged weak early response / governance gaps
Ebola = viral haemorrhagic fever; recurrent in Central/West Africa

(Analysis, dimensions, significance, critique, policy angles — for 10/15 mark answers)

Precision oncology: Cracking KRAS shows the shift from broad chemotherapy to mutation-targeted drugs — converts a near-untreatable cancer into a manageable one, a template for other "undruggable" targets
Access & affordability question for India: Such targeted oral drugs are typically very expensive and patent-protected → equity concern for a country with high cancer burden; strengthens case for patent flexibilities (compulsory licensing), generics, and public cancer-care financing
Epidemic-preparedness link (Ebola): "Head start" of the DRC outbreak underlines that early detection + surveillance + health-system trust decide epidemic outcomes — relevant to India's IDSP and One Health framework
UPSC angle: Gene-targeted therapy, precision medicine, drug affordability & IPR, non-communicable disease burden, global epidemic governance (WHO, IHR)