-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 say new policy may not address the weaknesses in ongoing routine immunisation programmes and would flood poor countries with new vaccines When the global health leaders meet in Geneva from May 21 to 26 for the World Health Organization's 65th General Assembly, introducing new vaccines in the low- and middle-income countries would be high on their agenda. A “global draft vaccine action plan”, available on WHO's website, details the implementation...

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...

A report by a parliamentary committee has shown that the drug industry regulator, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), has been approving, on average, one new drug a month without conducting mandatory clinical trials or seeking expert medical opinion—findings that expose the deep flaws prevalent in India’s drug approval process. The committee has asked the health ministry to withdraw the discretionary powers given to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization...

-The United Nations Some 15 million babies worldwide – more than one in ten births – are born too early, according to a new United Nations-backed report, released today, which calls for steps such as ensuring the requisite medicines and equipment and training health staff to promote child survival. “All newborns are vulnerable, but preterm babies are acutely so,” says Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who wrote the foreword to the report, entitled...