-The Business Standard Angelina Jolie has inadvertently highlighted a key question about patenting Angelina Jolies recent double mastectomy was obviously a very radical decision. It is unusual for a healthy person to opt for pre-emptive surgery to avert the probability, however high it may be, of getting cancer. The tests Jolie relied on are also at the heart of a legal battle, which could affect US biotech patenting norms. Since the US...

-Firstpost.com After the UPA-II released its self-congratulatory 79-page ‘Report card to the People', National Advisory Council (NAC) member and leading social activist Aruna Roy has come down heavily on the government for its poor performance in the social sector. Roy, an instrumental force behind the Right to Information Act, criticised the government for stalling on essential legislations such as the Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Lokpal Bill. Roy spoke...

-The Telegraph The sudden arrest of Amway India's top brass on Monday has focused the spotlight on the crumbling fault lines and the grey areas in the demarcation between some of the world's best-known direct selling companies and the dodgy Ponzi schemes that promise huge returns to gullible investors and have lately grabbed all the sensational headlines in Bengal. William S. Pinckney, managing director of Amway India, and two directors of the...

-The Business Standard After the US and Indian authorities, the medicines manufactured by Ranbaxy Laboratories are now under the scanner of hospitals, too. Mumbai's leading Jaslok Hospital has already put up a notice advising its doctors to avoid prescribing Ranbaxy drugs, while some others are reviewing the matter. Medanta Medicity officials say they will soon assess the situation and take a decision. "I have received around a dozen queries from patients recently....

-The Hindu Seven years after the first warning in June 2006 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and five years after the Department of Justice initiated legal proceedings against the company, Ranbaxy is back in the news for the same wrong reasons. Last fortnight it pleaded guilty to felony charges in the U.S., admitting to selling adulterated drugs with intent to deFRAud, not reporting that its drugs failed...