-The Business Standard Govt should streamline its free medicines plan The Centre is reportedly going to shelve a plan to procure generic drugs for free supply to patients throughout the country. This is a serious error. Reportedly, states will instead be asked to do so; but, if a perceived inability to procure, stock and distribute these drugs is the reason for backtracking on the plan, how precisely will states be free of...
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Indian pharma's generic challenge-DG Shah
-The Business Standard USFDA's zero tolerance policy requires our drug firms to reorient not just processes but organisational cultures to serve that market credibly The following two quotes from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) news releases may help put the Ranbaxy controversy in perspective. The first sums up what it is that drives the FDA and the second is typical of the challenge the pharmaceutical industry faces. (1) "The consent...
More »Health gap between countries is narrowing, but challenges remain–UN report
-The United Nations The health gap between poor and rich countries has narrowed significantly over the past two decades according to a United Nations report released today, which stresses that in spite of this progress, challenges still remain to achieve the health targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "Intensive efforts to achieve the MDGs have clearly improved health for people all over the world," said the Director-General of the World Health...
More »Aadhaar to help eradicate poverty, says World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim
-PTI WASHINGTON: Describing Aadhaar card as one of the best example of integration of technology for social welfare use, the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, believes that this massive effort by the Indian Government would help in achieving his goal of poverty eradication by 2030. "On a larger scale we've got to think about how we can integrate this technology into a massive effort to scale up access to financial...
More »Strong medicine for poor countries-Nayanima Basu
-The Business Standard The Novartis verdict by the Supreme Court emphasised the importance of flexibilities in drug patent laws, in contrast to Western countries which are seeking TRIPS-plus hardening through free-trade agreements As curtains on the six-year-long legal tussle with Swiss drug giant Novartis AG finally came down earlier this month, the Indian government did not waste a second in hailing the Indian patent law which it said was in "full...
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