-The Times of India India's space agency Isro bent rules for private firm Devas to sign a deal for multimedia services, projecting a paltry Rs 1,120 crore revenue over a 12-year period that would not even have covered the cost of launching two satellites for the promised service, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said.  In a report submitted to Parliament on Tuesday, the official auditor gave the Prime Minister's Office...

Having watched from the ringside for many years now, I have no doubt in advising that the steering wheel must be firmly grasped by the government and direction given to policies that should be stable for at least the medium term. This is crucial for the growth of Indian pharma, a $20-billion industry growing at an average of 12% considering both domestic and export arenas. Price control: The biggest and most...

-The Hindu Business Line The onus of granting approvals to medicines marketed in the country is on the regulator Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), say drug companies, adding that they have adhered to the law of the land. The drug-makers were responding to a Parliamentary panel report on health that severely indicted the drug regulatory authority, besides alleging that “invisible hands” of drug-makers were involved in getting favourable reports on medicines...

Fighting cancer has just become less expensive for millions of Indian patients. More than 12 years after he electrified the pharma industry by taking on powerful global giants in his quest to supply cheap anti-AIDS drugs, Cipla promoter YK Hamied is back donning the role of a price warrior. This time, his attention is on anti-cancer drugs. On Thursday, Cipla cut prices of key cancer drugs by nearly 75%, an astounding,...

That this is the first time a compulsory licence has been granted in India is in itself important. INDIA'S long struggle to ensure access to affordable medicines for its people recently took a positive and interesting turn. In early March, just before he demitted office, Controller General of Patents P.H. Kurian passed an order on an application filed by Natco Pharma, headquartered in Hyderabad, requesting a licence to produce an anti-cancer...