Monsanto's troublesome trait

Bayer is battling seed companies and farmers in several countries over royalty on Monsanto's GM seeds

Evergreening rampant in India

India's patent office has ignored the strict safeguards against evergreening and allowed a flood of secondary drug patents

Memories of a city

Book>> Ahmedabad, Shock city of Twentieth Century India, by Howard Spodek, Orient Blackswan, Rs 795

When Big Pharma has all the answers

IFPMA, the biopharma trade body, has made its claim clear: COVID-19 vaccine management should be left to these handful of companies; and all …

Germany to phase out glyphosate by 2023

The country took this step to protect insect populations that play a pivotal role in ecosystems and pollination of food crops

10 per cent drugs in government supply chain below standard

National drug survey published by the health ministry also found that 0.059 per cent of government-sourced samples were spurious

Big Pharma and intellectual property: Why is India afraid of compulsory licences?

While rich nations are discovering the virtues of compulsory drug licences, India has resolutely turned its back on this tool despite nudges from …

Vaccines without needles: New shelf-stable film could revolutionise how medicines are distributed worldwide

A research group claims to have developed a method to stabilise live viruses and other biological medicines in a rapidly dissolving film that …

In poll season, Punjab debates legalising poppy seed and opium farming

Proponents feel the two crops will help farmers, save Punjab’s groundwater and wean its youth from synthetic drugs

AI for drug development: How trustworthy is the tech?

Pharma companies today deploy artificial intelligence with a potential to reduce the drug development cycle by half 

Dark underbelly of Big Pharma lobbying

Recent protests and campaigns in the US have focused on the proposal by India & South Africa at WTO to keep TRIPS in abeyance till the …

Beware of a deal with Trump

As the US president comes visiting to India there is worry about the demands he will make on intellectual property

Software outsmarts drug research

Now, a programme can bypass patented drug pathways and create synthetically-produced medicines

Rise of AMR could result in up to 10 million annual deaths by 2050: UN report

Some 24 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty due to rising AMR, the UNEP said

COVID-19 exposed dependence of world, India on China for active pharma ingredients

APIs are crucial for drugs and countries have put their eggs in a single basket; India has been discussing the issue for sometime

The end of meat and GMOs or the end of us: Part 1

The first in a three-part series series on effects of GMOs and the meat industry on our environment

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

AMR driven by manufacturing our next big challenge

Antibiotics production is an important yet often forgotten driver of antimicrobial resistance; an alliance of pioneers has decided to pave the …

National List of Essential Medicines: 34 drugs enlisted in update after 7 years

The latest National List of Essential Medicines features 384 medicines, drops 26 old ones

COVID-19 and the big pharma mess

The pandemic has exposed a serious fault line in the global pharmaceutical supply chain, created by an industry that flourished by putting profit …

Ethical concerns eclipse world’s race to develop Ebola vaccine

World Health Organization and international community have been repeatedly slammed for delayed intervention

Missed calls from patients can help monitor TB treatment, says government

A special treatment kit which eases the procedure of treatment is being tested in two states

COVID-19 Challenge 2021: How does the world overcome vaccine shortage

The pharmaceuticals industry must come together to ensure all adults are vaccinated against the novel coronavirus; …

Antimicrobial resistance: The need to tackle access-excess problem

AMR, like every process, has its own drivers and determinants. The threat has evolved over time due to our acts of omission and commission

Ebola enters Mali, nearly 10,000 affected globally till now

With this, Mali has become the sixth West African country to be affected in the world's most deadliest outbreak of Ebola