Selected writing

Pratik's reporting covers global health, science and health policy, biomedical research, and drug development. His recent work includes the politicization of US foreign aid, the gutting of American research funding, India's role as the world's pharmacy, and the real-world impact of vaccine skepticism that is now showing up in health data.

India's drug industry saved the world once. Can it do it again? Vox

The "pharmacy of the world" needs to reinvent itself.

The only thing standing between humanity and the end of HIV. Vox

Why the Trump administration is cutting out a country that needs it most.

The US slashed research for cancer, Alzheimer's, mental health — and nearly everything else Vox

Revealed in one chart.

It took 35 years to get a malaria vaccine. Why? Undark

The parasite's complex biology played a role in the delay, but experts say there was also a lack of urgency and funding.

Ozempic just got cheap enough to change the world Vox

Why the $14 drug could reshape global health.

Ozempic$14 in Indiavs.$349 in the US

America's vaccine skepticism is starting to show up in health data Vox

RFK Jr. wanted parents to question the science. A study of 12 million newborns shows they listened.

The world just lost its health report card. Now what? Vox

Why this obscure survey has life-or-death stakes, and what its future could look like.

One weird thing that's been holding drug trials back Vox

What if researchers didn't have to start from scratch every time?

The year child malnutrition flipped, explained in one chart. Vox

The year child malnutrition flipped, in one chart.

The biggest mosquito-borne disease in the world has a cure. But no one wants to make it. Vox

No one wants to make it.

Lead batteries are poisoning millions of children. Here are 3 proven ways to stop it. Vox

Informal recycling is deadly — and relatively simple to fix.

The world's stockpile of cholera vaccine is empty—but relief is on the way. Science

A dramatic shortage of the oral vaccine may ease in the years ahead as more companies enter the market.

The world is not prepared for another cholera wave. Undark

Sanitation and vaccination can prevent cholera. But recent outbreaks highlight obstacles to stopping the disease.

The race to track drug-resistant malaria in Africa. Undark

Resistance to the drug artemisinin was confirmed in Africa. Without better surveillance, it is hard to track the threat.

A flesh-eating parasite is at our borders. What happens if it spreads? Vox

The US eradicated screwworm. Its return could cost America billions.