PHARMA LITERATI

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The global rare disease drug market is expected to touch $242 billion by 2024 with a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3 per cent between 2019-2024. Globally, the definition of rare disease (RD) is at nascent stage although it is evolving constantly. It is assumed that there are approximately 8,000 different types of RDs, with more being discovered each day. Particularly in India, nearly 450 RDs have been enlisted. Due to its poor diagnosis mechanism, low prevalence and limited treatment options, often it is addressed as an ‘orphan’ disease. Rare diseases in India The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India announced that so far only about 450 rare diseases have been recorded in India from tertiary care hospitals. The most common rare diseases include haemophilia, thalassemia, sickle-cell anaemia, primary immunodeficiency in children, auto-immune diseases, lysosomal storage disorders such as Pompe disease, Hirschsprung disease, Gaucher’s disease, cy ...

Dr Harshit Jain, Founder & CEO, Doceree writes about the potential of AI implementation in the pharma industry and the role it can play in enhancing operations in various segments In the wake of digitisation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken a leap in the pharmaceutical industry ranging from discovery to go to market. It has a wide-reaching potential in the pharma industry such as research & development, clinical trials, marketing and sales analytics. Using a machine learning programme can reduce the time spent on examining data, saving money and allowing researchers to focus on other issues. Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, from fantasy football to customer service, we will soon be encountering AI programmes in almost every sphere of our lives. But, it is equally important to know what AI technologies are going to be truly transformative. Let’s have a sneak peek that how it runs the gamut of pharma space prolifically. Role of AI in ‘Drug Discov...

The UK is now facing a national shortage of paracetamol, commonly used to fight Covid-19, due to India curbing exports of the drug during the global pandemic. Pharmacists  across the UK are being forced to ration paracetamol-containing products to one packet per customer, with many shops completely out of stock of the world's most popular painkiller. On March 3, India restricted the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and the  medicines  made from them, which included paracetamol, some antibiotics and certain vitamins. Department for International Trade officials in the UK are currently in discussions with their Indian counterparts about easing those restrictions for key British suppliers. India is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of drugs, with the UK heavily reliant on its supply. India’s pharmaceutical companies source about 70 per cent of their ingredients from Chinese factories and the main ingredient of paracetamol is primarily man...

Pharma Literati is pleased to announce summer internship 2020 for highly aspiring, career  focused B. pharmacy students. This is a home based paid opportunity and location is not a constraint for the students. 5 Positions available this summer.  Fill the google form available at - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ko1YTYJFbhxw1PR9HWeQ2rhMxfD9uDFEbRC4Ydy8zFg/edit

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday told Rajya Sabha that the disruption in business activities in China may have an impact on Indian industries such as pharmaceuticals, automobile and electronics industries, which depend on China for supplies of raw materials, components or intermediate items. He said the outbreak of coronavirus and cancellation of two prestigious diamond exhibitions in Hong Kong are few of the key reasons for decline of exports of polished In a separate reply, he said the impact of those disruptions would vary across companies depending upon their ability to find alternate sources at competitive rates. This in turn would determine their pricing strategy. As per the information available, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has not received any reference regarding sudden increase in the price of Paracetamol by 40% and Azithromycin by 70% in the country. US trade To a question on whether the government has been conside...

The Indian Pharmaceutical Market (IPM) has registered a growth of 12.1% for the month of February 2020, recovering from the lower growth in January 20, which stood at 7.7%. The growth is essentially led by the top therapies. According to AIOCD AWACS report, the IPM has recorded sales of Rs. 1,42,658 crore and a growth of 9.7 per cent for Moving Annual Total (MAT) basis during February 2020. Among the top 50 corporates, 37 exhibited double digit growth, with an average of 16.84%, while 2 of the top 50 corporates registered degrowth for the month of February, 2020. Amongst the top 10 corporates, Macleods showed the highest growth of 21.41%, followed by Mankind at 19.06%, Torrent at 17.35%, Sun Pharma at 14.44%, Intas at 14.01%, Alkem at 13.58%, Lupin at 13.37%, Zydus at 11.70% and Cipla at 10.40%. Only Abbott was among top 10 corporates growing at less than 10% (9.36%). Amongst the corporates ranked 11-20, Aristo exhibited the highest growth of 25.44%, followed by Dr. R...

The Supreme Court of India has recently made a landmark observation over the statutory authority of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) when it comes to matters related to pharmacy. The bench of Honourable Justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and MR Shah held that only Pharmacy Act 1948 will be applicable in relation to the subject of Pharmacy, including approval of courses of study, minimum standards of education required for qualification as a Pharmacist, registration as a Pharmacist, regulation of future professional conduct etc; not any other authority. SC was approached to intervene in the conflict over restrictions imposed by the PCI on the intake of students to various Pharmaceutical courses. Many colleges had moved the various High Courts against these restrictions. Since the Colleges increased the intake of students, based upon the requisite approval obtained from the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the High Courts had allowed the colleges to continue with the ...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) provides full fee waivers for scientific advice applications from developers of potential therapeutics (to treat the disease) or vaccines (to prevent the disease) against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Developers of potential therapeutics or vaccines against COVID-19 are invited to contact the Agency as soon as possible with information about their proposed development, by emailing 2019-ncov@ema.europa.eu. In a first round of discussions, EMA can provide preliminary informal comments and feedback on the development. This will then allow the Agency to identify the products which are mature enough to benefit from fast-track scientific advice, to guarantee best use of this tool. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with this fast-track scientific advice, the Agency can give developers prompt guidance and direction on the best methods and study designs to generate robust information on how well a medicine or vaccine works and...

Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, claims to have achieved a breakthrough in developing a vaccine for the dreaded coronavirus contagion. It says the virus-vaccine strain developed in laboratories has reached the animal clinical trial stage, with possible results within two months. Serum Institute had partnered with the US-based biotech drug research company Codagenix three weeks ago to jointly develop a live-attenuated vaccine (creating a vaccine by reducing the virulence of the pathogen, but still keeping it alive) to fight the coronavirus. The company claims it is the first vaccine to progress from the laboratory to the pre-clinical trial phase and can be market ready by 2022. " Serum Institute and Codagenix have been working with utmost diligence and meticulous effort to develop a preventive vaccine against the novel coronavirus. The vaccine-virus strain is identical to the original virus and can generate a r...