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Is the government finally waking up to the crisis of TB in the country or responding to international alarm at cases of drug resistant TB in India?  A short piece in The Hindu about how the GoI has made TB a notifiable disease to facilitate timely action.

India records 1.5 million cases of malaria a year and reports indicate that over 70% of the Indian population face the risk of malaria infection. In the light of these figures, it is alarming to learn that a recent study indicates that 7% of the malaria drugs sold in India are fake. What can be

In a statement issued by IAVI(International Aids Vaccine Initiative)  said that   an AIDS vaccine that is only 50 per cent efficacious, if introduced in 2020, can prevent 5.2 million new infections in low and middle income countries in the first decade.The combination of scaled-up prevention programming and the 50 per cent efficacious vaccine could prevent

Interesting interview in Forbes with the head of WHO in India.  She comes out clearly in favour of compulsory licensing- ” We welcome India’s move. It is also a good message to the industry that the India government is now mature enough to consider all the options it has and apply them as appropriate for the needs

Almost a third of India’s registered doctors do not practice anymore. More worryingly, more than half of the registered nurses in India do not practice anymore. In a country with poor health indicators, the seeming disappearance of a large chunk of the qualified medical workforce is a worrying statistic. Read more about this union health

Following on from my post last week on the same issue; here’s a short TV news story on CNN-IBN, one of the most watched news channels in India.  It is a seemingly damning report  and most drug companies apart from one refused  comment.

Another piece of shocking news on the regulation of drug retail in India.  Even though the fact that drugs banned in other markets are being openly sold in the country requires urgent redressal, other issues such as the lack of control over the sale of antibiotics also require greater scrutiny and public debate.  Read more

Readers following the Nexavar compulsory licensing story will know that multi-national pharma companies had expected the US to defend their patents. In fact, as the SpicyIP blog notes, the US reaction has been muted. US trade policy is a complex issue but this does seem a surprisingly calm reaction from the world’s foremost protector of

This press release talks about an interesting new development in India’s Meghalaya State where the IFC and DfID are helping extend health insurance to all.  What’s really interesting about this is that private sector participation is integral to the model.  Of course, only time will tell how the scheme develops but in a country with

A dismal statistic in today’s Hindu: India has the highest number of deaths due to premature births and also ranks 36th in the list of pre-term births globally. With more than three time the premature deaths than second-placed China, India also lags far behind many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in this vital health indicator. What