ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the quest for drugs—possible tools to fight COVID-19—that began in biomedical research just after the first announcements of the epidemics, and on the search for non-biomedical treatments, especially those stemming from various types of traditional medicine, such as Chinese, Tibetan, Ayurvedic, and Siddha. It describes specific examples to examine the issues of biomedical knowledge production and circulation, and contestations and negotiations around certain drugs, clinical trials, and “emergency use.” The chapter explores the strengthening of Asian traditional medical systems during the pandemic and describe some of the controversies around the use of their treatments. It focuses on available documentation, ranging from academic articles to short pieces in special “COVID-19 forums” at universities or in scholarly journals, blogs, and media reports. The position of Tibetan medicine in India, as anthropological studies reveal, is not so satisfactory.
