Strong medicine for weak drug patents

Revocation of Pfizer, Roche patents for lacking inventive step signals healthy trend

The natco-pfizer test

Natco’s demand for a voluntary licence from Pfizer will establish how well the compulsory licence process works in India

Drug affordability test

Natco’s bid for a compulsory licence to manufacture a Bayer anti-cancer drug is a test of the law’s ‘reasonable price’ …

Big pharma’s dirty tricks

Drug giants from GSK, Abbott and Pfizer to Bayer have been fined for serious malpractices. They should be under close watch in India

Cost of vaccination has risen 68 times in a decade, says report

Crisis looms as donor withdraws support to African countries; MSF urges GSK, Pfizer to slash vaccine price

Make unethical drug trials a punishable offence, say experts

Current laws do not fix penalty if such practices are found

Drug trials: Irked NHRC issues notices to Centre and Andhra Pradesh government

Says respond else face action

US piles on the pressure

Patent law, domestic content rules in solar and ICT policy come under attack

Standing up to the US

India does not have to be apologetic about its patents law, which is fully compliant with WTO requirements on intellectual property protection

Can activism check Big Pharma’s profit motives?

As prices of life-saving drugs skyrocket, people from diverse fields are getting together to fight Big Pharma

The world needs pharmaceuticals from China and India to beat COVID-19

Chinese manufacturers make around 40% of all APIs used worldwide; China, India are the source of 75-80% of APIs imported to US

90% efficacy for Pfizer’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is striking. But we need to wait for the full data

Important questions remain: It’s unclear how long protection will last and if the vaccine protects against severe disease

COVID-19 vaccines are coming – how will we know they work and are safe?

The results of the Pfizer vaccine trial are highly promising. But the road to eradicating the coronavirus is likely to be long and difficult

Lateral Thoughts: Waiting for the vaccine?

Vaccination programmes cannot be dealt with outside the purview of public health

Moderna’s COVID vaccine reports 95% efficacy. It means we might have multiple successful vaccines

It opens the door to the possibility we might have many successful vaccines, and be able to tailor different vaccines to people with different needs

COVID-19 vaccines: How Pfizer and Moderna’s 95% effective mRNA shots work

Should we expect the pandemic to be over once a vaccine is available for public use? Not exactly. A vaccine will not be perfect, and it takes …

COVID-19 vaccine: Oxford-AstraZeneca up to 90% effective in late stage trial

Adenovirus vaccine can be stored at 2-8°C; company to apply for emergency authorisation

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine becomes first to get emergency authorisation

UK government gives nod on basis of interim results, vaccine to be made available by next week  

Decision on emergency authorisation for SII, Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccines deferred

Both manufacturers have been asked for more data before a final decision can be reached  

DCGI clears Bharat Biotech, SII COVID-19 vaccines but efficacy question unanswered

CDSCO official says BB vaccine to be used in public but to exclude people with COVID-19, other infections

Delaying the second COVID-19 vaccine dose: A medical expert answers key questions

The uncertainty is around how long the protective effect of the first dose will last without a second shot

Dummy’s guide to how trade rules affect access to COVID-19 vaccines

The WTO is considering whether to temporarily waive certain rules about TRIPS, to allow more countries access to vaccines, drugs needed to …

COVID-19 immunity: how long does it last?

In UK’s second wave, previously infected health workers were either completely protected from reinfection or were asymptomatic 

India readies for COVID-19 vaccination but vexed questions on the solution remain

The risks the country needs to prepare for, precautions it needs to take, the logistics required and, above all, the implications of it all for …

Norway reports deaths related to COVID-19 vaccination

Situation not alarming, only ‘small exception’ affected by Pfizer mRNA vaccine: Medical director of Norwegian Medicines Agency