-The Telegraph New Delhi: International health activists have joined their Indian counterparts in decrying what they say are Barack Obama's dual policy on big drug companies, pledging to break their stranglehold in the US but promoting their interests in India. The activists claimed yesterday that the India-US joint statement, issued during Obama's visit to India, contains signals that the Indian government could be preparing to weaken its intellectual property regulations on medicines,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Leading US health groups including AVAC, Oxfam America, amfAR, Health Global Access Project (GAP), TAG (Treatment Action Group)and others have written to Barack Obama urging him to support India in providing "high-quality, low-cost generic medicines essential for health care around the world". This comes in the wake of the two nations agreeing to enhance engagement on IPR at the latest bilateral talks. Sunday's joint statement after...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A public health expert has questioned the Indian government's commitment to effectively tackling tuberculosis, citing slashed funds, late diagnoses and a failure to curb incorrect or inappropriate prescriptions by many private practitioners. India's plans to eliminate TB as a public health problem by 2050 will remain unachievable without sustained financial support, strong political will and stringent regulation, Mahavir Golechha has said. Golechha is a faculty member with the health...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government may negotiate prices of patented medicines with their manufacturers before allowing pharmaceutical companies to launch them in India. The move, a first of its kind, is also likely to be applied on patented drugs that are already being sold in the country, an official source said. An inter-ministerial committee, evaluating the mechanism to negotiate prices of patented medicines, has recently sought detailed information about...

-Down to Earth In a Union budget wish list, civil society organisations call for course correction in policy and improving access to healthcare in India The government's focus on improving health indicators stated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has worked against the aims of universal health coverage, said experts at the National Convention on Union Budget 2015-16 held in Delhi on January 8 and 9. They recommended that the focus must...