PHARMA LITERATI

A piece of Times of India (Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/10-docs-got-money-from-pharma-MNCs/articleshow/49268017.cms) reports that a scrutiny of income tax (I-T) returns of private doctors by Punjab Medical Council (PMC) has found 10 practitioners to have received financial transactions from well-placed multinational pharmaceutical companies. The PMC on Wednesday issued notices to these private doctors in Ludhiana and Patiala. The doctors who were allegedly indulging in the malpractice were medical specialists, cardiologists and gastroenterologists. The transactions range from Rs 6 to Rs 12 lakh in the 2010 to 2014 period. Despite the claims of Medical Council of India (MCI) of acting tough against doctors who receive money from drug companies for individual purpose, the practice has been found to be rampant in Punjab. Four doctors from Ludhiana and six from Patiala have been sent notices for violation of Section 6.8.1 of Indian Medical Council ...

The past few decades have been very productive for India, as it took a major leap from pharmaceutical production, to include contract manufacturing. According to the president of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA), S V Veerramani, the overall pharma contract manufacturing industry is growing at 20%, providing a burgeoning opportunity for small and medium enterprises, reports Brand India Pharma. The current market value is estimated at 50% of the domestic production, which roughly translates to $5.3 billion. Multinationals hold a generous 20%-25% stake in the domestic pharmaceutical market. For the basic manufacture of medical products and drugs, India has a far superior edge over nations such as China, Vietnam and Ireland, due to resources including manpower, technically knowledgeable work force, and World Health Organization-Good Manufacturing Practice- approved production premises. A substantial 40% lower cost of operation and production is clearly the ...

Driven by innovation and research in medical devices and formulations, India might figure in the top 3 pharmaceutical manufacturing countries in the world with a potential turnover of $55 billion by 2020, says a research report by Assocham in association with TechSci Research . India's pharmaceutical sector will create thousands of jobs by 2020, said the report, released during a conference on IPR in Pharmaceuticals, jointly organised by Assocham and Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Data protection: The research report by TechSci Research recommends introduction of data protection as an Intellectual Property Right in India, which will benefit and drive the growth of pharmaceutical research and innovation. Also, it recommended complete digitization of IPR processes. IPR for pharmaceuticals in India be made completely online to make processes more systematic and convenient for the industry, it added.  Experts highlighted ...

This piece of news in today's Economic times perfectly analyzes the Indian pharma industry's hurdles going global.  Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49264964.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst What takes one from A to B doesn't necessarily help in moving from B to C. That's the situation with the Indian pharma industry as it grows to tap the opportunities in the global healthcare market.  The industry has reaped the low-hanging fruits of low-cost generics, making Indian pharma companies one of the most profitable ones globally. But, the future is likely to be tough with profitability coming under pressure. The article discusses about problems like 1. The cost of compliance is slated to increase in the years ahead.  2. The regulatory clamps faced by Indian pharma companies from foreign drug regulators. 3. I ncreasing  investment towards research and development ...

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine would be awarded to with one half jointly to 1. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites; and 2. Youyou Tu   for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria. Diseases caused by parasites have plagued humankind for millennia and constitute a major global health problem. In particular, parasitic diseases affect the world's poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and wellbeing. This year's Nobel Laureates have developed therapies that have revolutionized the treatment of some of the most devastating parasitic diseases. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura discovered a new drug, Avermectin , the derivatives of which have radically lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, as well as showing efficacy against an expanding number of other parasitic dise...

Call it the Maggi moment in the pharmaceuticals sector. At a time when the government has set up a high-level committee to look into a ban on the use of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a kind of plastic, in pharmaceutical packaging, both manufacturers and environmentalists are duking it out over the quality of tests that the government is basing its decision on. The committee was set up last month after a government-authorized agency tested some PET bottles and found high levels of toxic materials. However, industry representatives have alleged that the government has only conducted one test on a sample of five bottles and that’s not enough for a ban. The saga goes back to early 2013 when Him Jagriti, an Uttarakhand-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that works in the health sector, approached the ministry of health seeking a ban on the use of PET for pharmaceutical packaging. The government entrusted the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), the highest decision-m...

Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has set up an expert committee to examine the validity of the claims made on the labels of some of the high profile vitamin supplements marketed in the country for some years. The committee would evaluate the claims made on the ingredients of these products to help the consumer determine the intended therapeutic or prophylactic use of the products. DCGI has formed an 8-member committee for the purpose to review these products which are currently classified as food products with exemption from stringent marketing and pricing rules. Among the 10 products that are currently being examined are Pfizer's 'Ferradol' , Alkem Pharma's 'A to Z' and Sun Pharma's 'Revital'. This move will not only help to bring effective regulations of the products but also correct the anomaly of multivitamins getting marketed as dietary supplements. Said Dr G N Singh, DCGI, "These relate to some of the borderline issues w...