PHARMA LITERATI

After 'Brand India', drug companies need to create 'Brand Pharma' for which the government should tweak laws, create a robust infrastructure which fosters innovation, and strengthen regulatory compliance to world standards. This will accelerate growth and help industry to achieve the $55 billion turnover by 2020, pharma CEOs at the Make in India session said. Kicking off the inaugural session on 'Indian Pharmaceuticals Industry - Aligning with Make in India Vision', Pankaj Patel chairman and managing director, Zydus Cadila, said the Indian pharmaceutical industry is poised to reach $55 billion, of which $30 billion will be exports. The crucial factors to make this happen are affordability, strong infrastructure, and, most important, the ease of doing business. "We need to think how to create ease of doing business without compromising quality and affordability," he said, adding, regulation of prices is welcome, but only those of essent...

Every week of thousands of patent applications are published in India. The patent applications filed by the pharma academic research institutes in India go un-noticed. We publish a list of Indian applications published related to pharma academics. This would provide us an idea about the kind of academic research being carried out in these institutes. For details of these patents, please write back to us at  pharmaliterati@gmail.com Invention Application No Inventors Institute 12 th February, 2016 Directly compressible DIFRA starch with improved binding, disintegrate and flow properties 201621002062A 1) Naseem Ahmad Charoo 2) Daud Baraka Abdallah 3) Aamer Roshan Ali Khatri 4) Abubakr Suliman Algorashi Not known 5-nitrofuranyl-4-oxo-2-thioxothiazolidin-3-YL derivatives for the treatment of tuberculosis 2436/MUM/2014A 1) Gupta Revat...

In order to ensure safety and efficacy of medical devices marketed in the country, the Union government plans to set up two medical device testing labs in the country at Vadodara in Gujarat and another at Noida based on the recent approval from the department of commerce. The medical device testing lab in Gujarat would be the first and the only dedicated biomaterials and implants testing lab in the country. The lab at Noida will be set up primarily to test electrical and electronic medical devices in the country. Setting up of the dedicated medical device testing labs in the country would be a boon for the Indian manufacturers to help adhere to compliance towards patient safety as the country today lacks in registering and thereby reporting adverse events due to faulty medical devices at the point of care. National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), a technical support institution under the ministry of health & family welfare, government of India had done a nation...

This guest-post is by Ishwor Poudel.  Whenever a new drug moiety is discovered or prepared along with the successful set of preclinical and clinical trials  and is further intended to be marketed, it need to go through a series of preformulation studies,  compatibility tests and the  precise formulation strategy. Active medicinal component alone only can’t be adequate enough to design a dosage form.  It’s where the excipients or additives come to play the role. Excipients can be defined as a non reactive ingredient added in the formulation in order to achieve the stability and the robust aestheticism in a drug. While going through a medicine, we only glance at the active ingredient but there are lot more beyond that while a drug is designed. I just intend to give a brief bird eye view over what additives really mean in the formulation and about proper surveillance over the quality of such components as an essential requisite. There is one normal miscon...

The Medical Council of India has decided to crackdown on medical practitioners who attempt to boost their income by pitching certain retail products to patients. Coming down heavily on the nexus between doctors and pharma companies, the country's apex regulatory body for medical education said endorsing a particular drug may result in the doctor being permanently thrown out of the Council. According to the latest rules framed by the body, a medical practitioner cannot endorse any drug or product of the industry publicly . Any study conducted on the efficacy or otherwise of such products shall be presented through appropriate scientific bodies or published in appropriate scientific journals in a proper way. The body feels the conflict of interest inherent in recommending drugs from certain companies is too blatant to be acceptable. "In such a case, the alleged doctor may face first time censure and thereafter their name will be removed permanently from the Indian me...

Pannir Soppu or Pannir Patre (Kannada) is a flowering plant grown in the Nilgiris. Boasting of over 400 species, it's also found in the Pushpawati river bed and a few other places in India. Some other variants are found in South Africa too. It has been around for ages. But its status changed about a year ago in India. On February 19, 2015, the Indian Patent Office granted Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) a patent for libido enhancement or treatment of erectile dysfunction. CSIR now also holds an international patent for its invention using Pannir Soppu or geranium. From libido enhancement to cancer and rabies treatment, India has granted patents to 131 ayurvedic medicines at an average of 14 per year in the last decade. A few have also been granted to international applicants like CSIR but the number is low. A separate department ( AYUSH ), digital library of 43,000 formulations and dedicated funds from the government notwithstanding, traditional...

India has the potential to become the 'capital of pharma' in the world and the government needs to take the initiative for fine-tuning the talent and improving the skills of the young generation to achieve this status, said Sun Pharma Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi today at the Make in India Week investment seminar. "Pharma is a skill intensive industry. So we need to educate the youngsters in advanced scientific topics like bio-technology and create infrastructure for facilitating studies. Skilling of people and use of new technology should be encouraged," he said. Shanghvi added that pharma is the sunrise industry. "India has the potential to become the world's pharma capital. Mumbai is the centre of research and best talent. The Maharashtra government should create a conducive environment for nurturing pharma researchers and grooming talent as part of Make in India," he added. Shanghvi, the second richest Indian after Mukesh Amba...