-The United Nations Only one-third of the world's countries have national strategies for viral hepatitis, the United Nations health agency today said urging Governments to scale up measures to tackle this ‘silent epidemic,' in particular the five types that, over time, cause chronic and debilitating illnesses. "The fact that many hepatitis B and C infections are silent, causing no symptoms until there is severe damage to the liver, points to the urgent...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: It will be an unusual Monday morning in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's household. Among the bagful of mail he gets daily will be several telegrams urging him to 'end corruption, give us freedom'. As the 160-year-old telegram service wound down on Sunday, one young man's idea of sending a telegram to the PM on corruption caught the fancy of others in the serpentine queue at the...

-The Hindu     The much-awaited Drug (Prices Control) Order 2013 has disappointed millions of patients, as it lacks a fair formula to fix the price ceiling and leaves important drug classes out of regulation. The result: High out-of-pocket spending on medicines will continue As far as intentions go, the Drug (Prices Control) Order 2013 is aimed at making critical drugs affordable and available to the public, while preserving a rationale for manufacture by...

-The Economic Times Anshu Prakash is worried about what he calls "mischievous propaganda" by "some people" who he thinks are misleading reporters. The joint secretary at the ministry of health and family welfare starts off by flatly denying that the joint monitoring mission (JMM) set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the government of India (GoI) discussed the impending danger of a TB drugs stock-out in August 2012. "There was...

-The Business Standard Data also show that several other leading domestic pharma companies have recalled their products from the US Frequent drug recalls, warning letters and import alerts from the US in the recent past have turned into a major concern for the Indian pharmaceutical industry and investors. While Ranbaxy Laboratories recently pleaded guilty before the US authorities for its wrongdoings in the past, the crackdown on the drug companies seems to...