-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...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: US business leader and philanthropist Bill Gates met Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday to discuss healthcare issues, including India's low healthcare expenditure. "There were discussions on healthcare and vaccination. He appreciated the progress in immunization programme in India," a senior planning commission official told ET. India's 12th Five Year plan has projected to increase healthcare spending to 2.5% of GDP compared to little...

-Stanford Social Innovation Review Looked at from the perspective of the political right, and the left, and the center, the proposed law making CSR mandatory is a really bad idea. Companies all over the world are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are responsible citizens, with about 70 percent of large companies in Europe and the Americas reporting on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Despite this, the very concept...

-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...

-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...