Compulsory licence can go a long way to ensure access to cheaper drugs In a momentous development, the Indian patent office issued the ever-compulsory licence in a highly contentious pharmaceutical patent case. The decision is a thumping victory for several patients and health activists who have been fighting what can only be labelled as highly inequitable pricing strategies by multinational drug firms for the past several decades. In August 2011, Natco, an...

-The Hindu Business Line A Government report has called for enhancing investment in agriculture and leveraging technology to boost the country's farm sector growth in the years ahead. The report ‘State of Indian Agriculture 2011-12,' released by the Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday, called for institutional reforms in research set up to make it more accountable and geared towards delivery, conservation of natural resources such as water and land among others. “Achieving a 8-9...

-Reuters India's move to strip German drugmaker Bayer of its exclusive rights to a cancer drug has set a precedent that could extend to other treatments, including modern HIV/AIDS drugs, in a major blow to global pharmaceutical firms, experts say.  On Monday, the Indian Patent Office effectively ended Bayer's monopoly for its Nexavar drug and issued its first-ever compulsory license allowing local generic maker Natco Pharma to make and sell the drug...

The school education department is likely to reimburse Rs 2,607 per child to the private schools of the state for admitting the BPL (below Poverty Line) children under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Orders in this regard are expected to be released soon, school education department sources informed.  The RTE Act came into effect in the state on March 26, 2011. In the last session almost 1.5 lakh students were...

-The Times of India Instead of creating happiness in the lives of farmers in adjacent villages, Adani power corporation has rendered them landless as their agricultural land is forcibly acquired by the district administration for requirement of the thermal power company. Once affluent, these farmers have now come below Poverty Line. Adani Thermal Power Corporation has acquired agricultural land in and around it's thermal power plant near Tiroda (Gondia). The state government gave...