-The Telegraph They are protesting the Centre’s move to regularise online sale of medicines New Delhi: An association of brick-and-mortar retail chemists has called on all its 800,000 members nationwide to observe a day-long strike on Friday in protest against the Centre’s move to regularise online sale of medicines. The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has claimed that online sales would raise the risk of drug abuse and drug interactions...

-PTI The president of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association said the order would have an impact on a market worth an estimated 16 billion rupees a year for such drugs, which are produced by both small and large pharma companies. New Delhi: The Indian government has banned 328 combination drugs in a blow to both domestic and foreign pharmaceutical firms, but the ban has been cheered by health activists worried about growing...

-The Hindu The disease cannot be eliminated without universal access to affordable, quality diagnostics and drugs After decades spent battling the scourge of tuberculosis (TB) in developing countries, 2018 might be the year that it is finally accorded the gravitas it deserves. On September 26, the UN General Assembly will, for the first time, address TB in a High-Level Meeting and likely release a Political Declaration, endorsed by all member nations, to...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Patients' rights groups have accused the Centre of trying to use a decade-old programme that delivers inexpensive medicines through government-supported retail outlets to promote the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) on Monday expressed concern at what they said was the "misuse of the public-funded Pradhanmantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana for the promotion of one political party". They said...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Countries negotiating a global declaration on tuberculosis are under pressure to give up their rights to use existing provisions in world trade laws to provide affordable second-line and new anti-TB drugs to their populations, an international humanitarian agency said on Friday. Medecins Sans Frontieres said the US was "exerting extreme pressure" on other negotiators by refusing to sign the declaration if it retained text that "recognises the importance...