-The Hindu All govt departs and ministries have been asked to provide electronic options for all payments and receipts by March 31, 2016. The Prime Minister’s Office has set an ambitious target to shift at least 90% of all government transactions that involve payments or receipts from citizens and businesses to electronic or paperless mode by the end of 2016, replacing the use of cash, demand drafts, cheques and challans in government...
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Affordable Drugs Need a Compensatory Patent Commons -Shamnad Basheer
-TheWire.in In a case that will once again prove that India is not out to arbitrarily purge all pharmaceutical patents, the Delhi high court has ruled in favour of Roche, a Swiss multinational. Many years ago, Roche dragged Cipla to court arguing that Cipla’s product infringed its patented anticancer drug, Erlotinib (brand name ‘Tarceva’). After a protracted legal battle fought over seven hard years, Roche finally won. But so did Cipla. Indeed,...
More »Hepatitis C cure may cost as low as Rs 67k -Reema Nagarajan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a move that comes as a huge relief to patients of chronic Hepatitis C, the apex committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has granted a waiver of local trials for crucial new direct-acting antiviral drugs treating the disease. The waiver for sofosbuvir and ledipasvir co-formulation and for daclatasvir is expected to bring the generic version of these drugs, which cost a fraction...
More »Michel Sidibe, Executive Director, UNAIDS, speaks to Vidya Krishnan
-The Hindu We need to take AIDS out of isolation and look at it in a broader framework, with links to maternal and child health, says Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS. Speaking on the sidelines of the India Africa Forum Summit, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director, UNAIDS, admitted to being ‘scared’ as pressure mounts on India to relax norms, allowing patent protection. In a conversation with Vidya Krishnan, Mr. Sidibe also spoke...
More »States recommend new cesses to fund Swachh Bharat initiatives
-Hindustan Times For a Clean India, be prepared for higher fuel and phone bills. A group of chief ministers has recommended a cess on petroleum products, telecom services and waste generated by mineral-based industries as well as Swachh Bharat bonds to fund the ambitious campaign. In a report submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog sub-group headed by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu...
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