Healthy signs

Finally, healthcare appears to be truly on the political agenda.  I've had no less than three indications of this. First, in Andhra Pradesh, one reason that YSR cited for his party's win in the recent elections was a universal health insurance scheme started by his government. Second, a solus ad in the Times of India, Chennai …

Advertisement

Another nano controversy

I must admit that when I read a report about the recall of breast cancer drug Albupax for the presence of more-than-permissible levels of endotoxins I was moved to wonder aloud how such a product could have been approved in the first place. (See my tweet). Well, I may have overreacted. From what I gather, there's more …

Biotech regulator : Does India need one?

The Economic Times reports that the Department of Biotechnology plans to set up a National Biotech Regulatory Board to regulate biotech drugs and vaccines. The board, it says, will be set up to distinguish between biologics and chemical-based products. While the report did not overtly say so, I am assuming that the department's primary target is not …

Drug pricing – the saga continues

There are murmurs of another task force being set up in New Delhi to look into India's drug pricing policy. This is the third government in the last decade that will be attempting to give India a progressive and, I hasten to add, "inclusive", drug pricing policy. It's predecessors - the NDA government and the UPA (Part …

Glivec patent dispute : Bullet misses the mark

I have yet to see the Intellectual Property Appellate Board's verdict on the patent application for Novartis' cancer drug Glivec. But I did read Shamnad Basheer's post on spicyip to know that it has rejected Novartis' claim for a product patent on the drug famously dubbed the "magic bullet" against some cancers by Time magazine  in 2001. Shamnad has done a great …