-The Indian Express Drug regulation is a mess. Everyone who propped up this irresponsible system is to blame Last week, a parliamentary standing committee on health delivered a thoroughly damaging report on the state of drug regulation in India, and the collusion between the regulator, industry and the medical profession that puts patients last. Over 118 pages, it said that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and the Drug Standards Control...

Health activists from across the country have asked the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry to take immediate cognisance of the recent report of the Department Related Standing Committee that has criticised the functioning of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for irregular approvals for clinical trials and sale of medicines to pharmaceutical companies that put patients at risk. In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the activists asked the...

The proposed criminalisation of consensual sex between youngsters in the 16-18 age group is seen as regressive and in denial of social realities. THE minimum age for consensual sex has been raised from 16 to 18 in the amended Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011, recently approved by the Union Cabinet. If approved by Parliament, this will make sexual activity with a person below 18 a criminal offence,...

-The Telegraph The Centre today asked a panel of doctors to outline measures to improve drug approval procedures, three days after a parliamentary standing committee said India’s drug regulators had broken laws, ignoring the interests of patients. The panel announced by the Union health ministry has been asked to suggest steps to improve the procedural aspects of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO), the agency entrusted with approving medicines for sale...

A key finding in the report was that several multinational firms had launched drugs without conducting mandatory clinical trials or seeking expert medical opinion The health ministry has denied the presence of any systemic rot in the drug approval process and pharmaceutical firms have refuted charges of collusion after a report by a parliamentary panel pointed to regulatory lapses in clinical trials. The panel, which looked into the functioning of Central Drugs...