The NATCO CL fallout

No medicine can be cheap enough when one is fighting fatal diseases, specially the emperor of maladies. So there was much to shout about when Patent Controller P H Kurian granted Natco Pharma of Hyderabad a compulsory licence (CL) last month to make a generic version of Bayer Corporation’s sorefanib tosylate.

Prometheus bound

The Prometheus in the headline does not refer to one of the greatest figures of Greek mythology—the Titan who defied Zeus, the ruler of the Olympian gods, to steal fire and give it to humans. For his defiance, this champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, was bound to a stake and his ever-generating liver eaten daily by a giant eagle.

Science and Technology - Briefs

ASTROPHYSICS Moon’s magnetic puzzle

Carcinogenic benzene levels peak in Delhi

Alarmingly high levels of benzene have been reported in Delhi’s air. The levels in some areas like around IGI airport and Civil Lines, exceed the annual standard of 5 microgramme per cubic metre by 2 to 5 times. This is extremely worrying as benzene—a volatile compound of petrol—is a toxic air pollutant and a potent carcinogen. It can be extremely harmful even at trace amounts.

Science and Technology - Briefs

Zoology Tweets in burbs

Mobile tower risks: Rajasthan High Court issues notice to telecom operators

Following a writ petition by two senior citizens citing increased incidence of cancer because of mobile towers, the Rajasthan High court, has issued notices to 13 mobile service providers, including Vodafone and Airtel, and seven government agencies.

Ethics on trial

Nine-year-old Rani is unhappy. She has to stay away from her mother Janki Patel, who is taking part in a clinical trial at a centre 10 kilometres from her house at Bapu Nagar in Ahmedabad. “I do not like these trials. They take my parents away,” says Rani.

RESIDUE OF A REVOLUTION

Bhola Singh is dead... Bhola Singh was a farmer from village Balloh, district Bhatinda, Punjab. He is part of a story with a beginning and an end. But it has no middle. Thus what follows is a fragment. But it is not fiction.

The dark zone

It is a story about underground water: when the nectar turns into poison. When a daily task of drinking water from the handpump becomes the source of crippling disease and death. This is not a "natural" disaster -- where natural arsenic or fluoride, present deep down, just happened to make their way into drinking water. It is about a deliberate poisoning.

Soft Target

safe inside the warm womb of the mother, a child kicks and turns. This is the third time that Sarah Connell is pregnant, but she has never reached her second trimester of pregnancy. She aborted twice earlier. This time she has moved houses, cleaned up her home, and taken every precaution to ensure that this baby survives. So far all is well.