“Come into my parlour..” India’s strange #medtech pricing decisions

Correct me if I am wrong but I do believe that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare just acknowledged that when prices of a product are fixed, manufacturers are discouraged from entering the market. And that competition brings down prices. Yes, you read that right, competition, and not price control. In a revealing …

Why did India remove cap on number of #clinicaltrials per investigator?

The central government, through the office of the Indian drugs regulator, has done away with the cap on the number of clinical trials per investigator. This is after it was pointed out by clinical research stakeholders such as sponsors and investigators, that this could lead to under-utilisation of clinical trials infrastructure, and investigator expertise. The …

Why do chemists hate e-pharmacies so much?

Last June, I wrote about the burgeoning online pharmacy business on this blog. Taking off on a column that I had authored for the Indian Express, I pointed out that while India's regulation of brick-and-mortar pharmacies (or chemist shops) has been slack, online pharmacies would be held to higher standards. That in the absence of …

Guest column : What’s up with Practo?

As a doctor , I was very hopeful when digital health start-ups entered India a few years ago. I am a big believer in Information Therapy, and I felt that these start-ups would use technology to help connect patients directly with doctors. They would remove the middleman and reduce information asymmetry, thus making it easier …

#Clinicaltrials : Are India’s Ethics Committees weak links in the chain?

Clinical trials, that hot-button subject hogging headlines up until a year ago, appears to have quietly slipped into the realm of business-as-usual. However, there are still some knotty issues to be resolved. Chief among them is the oversight of Ethics Committees (ECs) as was evident at a recent event I attended. ECs - which are …

Guest column : How to leverage a global policy revival in traditional medicine

On Friday, May 13, India committed close to a million dollars to help create a benchmark document for training and practice of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathic medicine. It is indeed a significant commitment and the reinforcement of ongoing efforts by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to promote traditional health systems strengthening around the …

The ban on fixed dose combinations : Quick take #FDCban

I've been quite vocal in my views about the ban on fixed dose combinations on Twitter. So here's a selection of my key tweets (and some retweets) on the subject. Good way to get a quick summary of the subject while I hem and haw over a longer article (if it ever gets written).  Latest …

Why the government wants to cap trade margins on drugs and why it shouldn’t

The abnormally high margin that trade channels are believed to earn on a relatively small portion of the Indian pharmaceutical market has become the latest painpoint for the central government. The  margins in question even cross 1000 per cent in some cases, according to a new report by a committee set up by the Department …

Hospital infection big problem in India: NABH #indiahealth #nosocomialinfections

Last week, the Indian Express published my column on the urgent need for hospitals - big and small - to follow infection control norms. Click here to read. While researching the column, I spoke to officials at the National Board for Accreditation of Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) to understand how the issue might be …

Tinderbox : How a meningitis vaccine tender singed GSK, Sanofi in India #UHC

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) recently slapped a Rs 63.5 crore fine collectively on GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK) and Sanofi Pasteur for attempting to collude to share a Union Ministry of Health tender for a meningitis vaccine and inflate prices. Indian health authorities have been immunising Indians performing Hajj, or the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, …