-Reuters WASHINGTON: World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called for a commitment by the international community on Tuesday to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people living in developing countries. To reach that goal, Kim said the world need to reduce the number of people living below the poverty line of $1.25 per day to 3 percent globally by 2030, and raise the per...

-The Economic Times To ensure access to healthcare for all, India must harness innovation in discovering drugs, in developing therapeutics and in delivering affordable healthcare. It is in the light of these facts that one should evaluate the impact of the Indian Supreme Court's ruling in the case involving patent protection for Novartis AG's cancer drug, Glivec. Glivec was the first-of-its-kind cancer drug for leukaemia patients with patent protection in nearly 40...

-The Times of India PATNA: The Bihar government, which keeps crying for more central assistance, could not spend Rs 1472.61 crore in 2012 and surrendered 100 per cent funds in 192 schemes, depriving the beneficiaries of the benefits, according to the CAG report for 2011-12 presented in state assembly on Tuesday. Central funds for several schemes also remained unutilized, it said. The CAG also regretted the lack of objective planning in utilization...

-The Hindu The lesson from the Supreme Court ruling on Gleevec is that pharmaceutical multinational corporations need to focus research on genuine innovations rather than on ways to evergreen their patents The much awaited Supreme Court judgment on Gleevec has been delivered. Novartis has failed in reversing the rejection of its patent. And, predictably - like a scratched record - there have been suggestions that pharma investments in India will dry...

-The Hindu Amid protests and a walkout by Opposition MLAs in the Assembly, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday pushed through a new Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog Bill, 2013 that ostensibly seeks to end the role of the Governor and the Chief Justice of the High Court in appointing the ombudsman. The Bill proposes a seven-member selection panel headed by the Chief Minister, which will recommend a candidate for the Lokayukta's post...