-Live Mint The first in a two-part series examining the opaque world of clinical trials in India  A hospital in Indore has been able to get away with unethical medical trials in which 32 people have died over five years, according to the state government. This despite several investigations, a state government ban and Supreme Court strictures—a classic example of the lawless nature of the clinical trial business in India.   Lata Mehra, who...

-The Indian Express The government’s proposal to price-control certain drugs will create more problems than it will solve From clothes to cars, prices of consumer products the world over are determined taking into account input costs, margins and competition, popularly called the cost-based pricing system. Departing from this sound, fair, tried and tested principle of commerce, the government’s new drug pricing policy, approved by the Group of Ministers headed by Sharad Pawar,...

-The Hindu Proposed NIB would be illegal, she says Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan has expressed “very serious concern” at the setting up of a National Investment Board to fast-track clearances of major infrastructure projects, saying the “concept is unacceptable,” documents exclusively obtained by The Hindu reveal. In a five-page letter sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 9, Ms. Natarajan said the proposal would upturn established procedures...

-The Business Standard Consumers should be free to choose their power distributor  Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal’s recent campaign against power tariff increases by distribution Companies in Delhi raises many valid issues, but the manner in which he has chosen to register his protests is unlikely to further that cause beyond a point. Instead, the campaign is likely to get embroiled in avoidable controversies, leading even to its derailment. In the first round...

-Deccan Herald The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over the lives of people who, without their knowledge, were subjected to drug clinical trials by pharma Companies and sought details of the number of such trials and the deaths and adverse reactions caused by them over the last seven years. “We are concerned with the lives of those who become subjects of clinical trials unknowingly and helplessly,” ta bench of Justices R...