-DNA The Union government decision to decontrol prices of 108 drugs -- used to treat tuberculosis, AIDS, diabetes and heart ailments -- has jacked up their prices. In some cases, prices have seen an unbelievable rise. The price of Glivec, an anti-cancer tablet, for example, has risen from Rs 8,500 to Rs 1.08 lakh. Plavix, used to treat blood pressure and heart ailments, will cost Rs 1,615, against the earlier Rs 147. An...
More »SEARCH RESULT
New drug era -Shamnad Basheer
-The Indian Express Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit is likely to throw up highly contentious intellectual property rights issues. Indeed, for the last several years, US drug majors and their European counterparts have lobbied hard to demonise the Indian patent regime. But the government must continue to defend the law and stand its ground. Particularly since our own industrial moguls have caved in and are less vocal about their opposition...
More »Stop prescribing antibiotics for fever and cold, Indian Medical Association will tell doctors -Durgesh Nandan Jha
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Faced with the scary prospect of losing lives to simple infections in the future, India is finally waking up to the dangers of reckless antibiotic use. The Indian Medical Association, a pan-India voluntary organization of doctors, will on Sunday launch a nationwide awareness programme on overuse of these live-savers, a practice that has led to emergence of drug-resistant organisms. IMA will also ask fellow practitioners to...
More »Government curbs power of regulator to cap HIV, cancer drug prices -Rupali Mukherjee
-The Times of India MUMBAI: In a move that will disappoint many patients, the government has withdrawn certain powers of the drug pricing regulator that allowed it to cap prices of widely prescribed anti-diabetes, cancer, HIV, tuberculosis and cardiac medicines. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said it is withdrawing "with immediate effect" - a guideline that had allowed it to put price caps on crucial medicines - to comply with a...
More »Cancer behind 70% deaths in India's atomic energy hubs -V Narayan & Malathy Iyer
-The Times of India MUMBAI: Cancer caused almost 70% of the 3,887 health-related deaths in the atomic energy hubs across the country over the last 20 years, an RTI reply has revealed. In all, 2,600 succumbed to cancer in 19 centres between 1995 and 2014. The query to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), which, like the others, is under the Department of Atomic Energy, had another shocking revelation: 255 employees took...
More »