Livemint Recent deaths in Gambia, Uzbekistan and the US, allegedly caused by toxic drugs made in India, has the Centre reportedly planning to centralize drug regulation. How effective will this measure be? The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) is the apex regulatory body. Each state has its own regulator. The state regulators look after licencing and audit manufacturing facilities while CDSCO is responsible for approving new drugs, imports of devices, clinical...

-Hindustan Times On November 15, Boston-based health news website Stat News cited official documents that purported to detail a series of problems in how Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine, funded partly by the government, was approved. The Union government and vaccine maker Bharat Biotech on Thursday refuted a report that alleged rules and protocols were bent during the approval process for Covaxin, but the clarifications served to further add to the questions that...

-The Hindu Business Line The laws concerned are riddled with loopholes. A mandatory, enforceable code for ethical pharmaceutical marketing is a must The recent kerfuffle over a particular brand of the painkiller paracetamol 650 mg tablet is not really over the particular brand as much as about the unethical marketing tactics of the pharmaceutical industry in India. Gone are the days when a mere ball-point pen or a diary from a medical representative...

-PTI/ NDTV.com At the outset, Advocate General for Tamil Nadu Amit Anand Tiwari submitted that Tamil Nadu has come out with the vaccination mandate for the reason that vaccination against COVID-19 is essential to prevent serious disease in the population. New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday clarified in the Supreme Court that it has not made COVID-19 vaccines mandatory and has only said that the vaccination should be 100 per cent. The...

-Hindustan Times A primary barrier to getting women vaccinated is the limited understanding of the disparate impacts Covid-19 vaccines have on them While less than 20% of India’s adult population has received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose, clear gender disparities have arisen in the rollout. A recent analysis by Ashoka University shows that for every 100 men, around 86 women were vaccinated. This is significantly lower than India’s sex ratio of approximately...