New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories on Friday said it has launched generic pioglitazone hydrochloride tablets used for treating diabetes in the American market under an agreement with Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. The company's wholly-owned subsidiary Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc has launched the drug following the expiry of patent held by Takeda Pharmaceutical. Ranbaxy is among the three companies, including Teva and Mylan, to have 180-days of marketing exclusivity for the drug in...
05:34 PM, Aug 17, 2012
Chandigarh: The government on Saturday said it will spend nearly two per cent of GDP on health care sector. "This is in the 12th Plan. We will be spending about two per cent of our GDP, which is 100 per cent increase. The government is taking all steps to boost the health sector. The Prime Minister has agreed to increase spending on health sector from the 1 per cent of...
04:58 AM, Aug 12, 2012
Mumbai: The government is planning to control the prices of costly patented drugs with a view to making them affordable to poor, phrama secretary Dilsher Singh Kalha said in Mumbai on Friday. "A committee has already finalised a proposal (in this regard) and we will put it out in the public domain in a month or so," Kalha told reporters on the sidelines of an industry function in Mumbai on...
09:57 PM, Jul 27, 2012
Bhopal/New Delhi: As the government has called a high-level meeting on Wednesday to draw up a code of conduct for doctors and pharmaceutical companies, CNN-IBN has accessed documents that show that pharmaceutical companies fund foreign trips for doctors and their families in return for pushing their products. The documents also show that the doctors prescribe drugs without proper clinical trials. The documents consisting travel details of a group of 11...
10:03 AM, Jul 18, 2012
Mumbai: India has put in place a $5.4 billion policy to provide free medicine to its people, a decision that could change the lives of hundreds of millions, but a ban on branded drugs stands to cut Big Pharma out of the windfall. From city hospitals to tiny rural clinics, India's public doctors will soon be able to prescribe free generic drugs to all comers, vastly expanding access to medicine...
07:58 AM, Jul 05, 2012
Washington: GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges and pay $3 billion to settle what government officials on Monday described as the largest case of healthcare fraud in US history. The agreement, which still needs court approval, would resolve allegations that the British drugmaker broke US laws in the marketing and development of pharmaceuticals. GSK targeted the antidepressant Paxil to patients under age 18 when it was...
09:54 AM, Jul 03, 2012
New Delhi: The government has deferred decision on Mahindra group's proposal to bring in FDI for a defence production joint venture and on another application by pharma major Pfizer to bring in foreign equity in a company. However, a proposal from Vedanta Group company Sesa Goa was approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the nodal agency for clearing applications for foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country. The...
03:04 PM, Jun 26, 2012
New Delhi: Actor Aamir Khan on Thursday appeared before a Parliamentary panel examining FDI in pharmaceuticals sector and pitched for generic medicines, saying companies will continue to make profit if they sell cheap drugs to the poor. The 47-year-old actor, who recently highlighted the issue of malpractices prevalent among doctors and sale of medicines in his TV show "Satyamev Jayate", was invited to appear as a witness before the Parliamentary...
04:18 PM, Jun 21, 2012
A parliamentary panel says some doctors are colluding with big pharmaceutical companies to sell unsafe drugs to the Indian consumers. ...
11:58 PM, May 15, 2012
Mumbai: A Parliamentary committee has uncovered a nexus between doctors, government bodies and pharmacy companies to approve new drugs without the mandatory clinical trials. The doctors from top hospitals wrote to the country's Drug Controller General, to allow new drugs to be marketed, without clinical trials - a shocking lapse, highlighted in this Parliamentary standing committee report. Drug expert CM Gulati said, "All of them are compromised. We've got the...
06:16 AM, May 14, 2012
Kamal K Sharma Designation: Managing Director, Lupin The Challenge: To enter the Japanese market, the world's second largest pharmaceutical market How He Did It: By entering the market with a partner and using them to understand the nuances. Lupin eventually bought the partner out, but made sure no changes were made to its management or operations In Japan, you just can't walk in and do business. It is a market...
04:46 PM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: In signs of better job market prospects, hiring activities increased across many sectors, including banking and pharma in April, says a survey by leading employment portal Naukri.com. Naukri.com's Job Speak Index climbed to 1,193 in April from 1,170 in March. The index is a monthly measure of online job demand. Noting that the first month of the financial quarter starts on a positive note, Naukri.com said the index...
08:10 PM, May 10, 2012
CHENNAI: They are the two major railway terminals linking Chennai with the rest of the country. Attracting over three lakh people every day, the citys premier landmarks handle roughly 150 trains, and tens of thousands of passengers. However, the absence of a pharmacy is a blot on these stations, which otherwise have several first-of-its-kind initiatives to their names. What is more, neither Central nor Egmore has an Internet caf, at...
08:19 AM, Apr 26, 2012
New Delhi: India and Brazil have agreed to set up six working groups in sectors like agro-processing, mining, infrastructure and pharmaceuticals aimed at increasing collaboration in these areas and strengthen economic ties. "Our governments have agreed to set up six working groups on agro processing, services and IT, mining, infrastructure, engineering and pharmaceuticals," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said. He was speaking at the Brazil-India Business Session jointly organised...
04:51 AM, Mar 31, 2012
Mumbai: Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding plans to offer cut-price versions of two blockbuster cancer drugs for the Indian market soon, a company spokesman said on Friday, days after the government moved to slash the price of another cancer treatment. India stripped German group Bayer of exclusive rights to Nexavar earlier this month and licenced a local company to produce a cheap, generic version, on the grounds that poor Indians could...
02:39 AM, Mar 24, 2012
Mumbai: The Indian Patent Office has given the Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma Limited the go-ahead in the form of a compulsory license to legally make and sell a low-cost generic version of German company Bayer's anti-cancer drug, Nexavar. The Controller of Patents PH Kurian, in a 62-page ruling, observed that with Nexavar priced at Rs 2,80,000 for a month's treatment, Bayer has not adequately worked the patent, adding that Nexavar was...
07:02 PM, Mar 13, 2012
New Delhi: India's decision to allow Natco Pharma to sell Bayer's patented cancer drug Nexavar has divided the pharmaceutical industry with domestic firms welcoming it while multinationals said 'arbitrarily' using of compulsory licenses will undermine innovation in the sector. Disappointed with the development, Bayer said it is evaluating options for its next step. "We are disappointed by the decision of the Patent Controller in India to grant a compulsory license...
04:56 PM, Mar 13, 2012
New Delhi: Bringing huge relief to cancer and kidney patients in India, the government on Monday allowed Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma to manufacture and sell cancer-treatment drug Nexavar at a price over 30 times lower than charged by its patent-holder and German multinational Bayer Corporation under Section 84 of the Indian Patent Act. The order was issued by India Patents Office as a 'Compulsory Licence' under the Indian Patent Act, which...
11:31 AM, Mar 13, 2012
By Ranjit Shahani As 16 March draws close, Indian healthcare is once again at the crossroads waiting with bated breath for the Union Budget in the hope that it will provide the necessary impetus to the pharmaceutical industry. Announcing Infrastructure status for Healthcare would be just what the doctor ordered. The reality is that rural and semi-urban India lacks even the most basic healthcare infrastructure. Since setting up facilities in...
06:31 PM, Mar 12, 2012
Mumbai: Employees in India are likely to get a salary increase of 11.9 per cent this year, says a survey conducted by global human resources consulting and outsourcing firm Aon Hewitt. This is well ahead of competitors China and Philippines, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region. Sandeep Chaudhary, practice leader - compensation consulting told CNBC-TV18 that pharmaceutica sector is expected to top the charts in terms of salary hikes. "Pharmaceutical...
07:46 AM, Feb 22, 2012
