International crude oil prices have fallen over 33 per cent from their recent record highs and are projected to fall further towards $90 per barrel with the second hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico not causing as much loss of production as was initially estimated.
Hospitals and medical research organisations that conduct clinical trials on humans may soon face surprise inspections from the regulatory authorities. The hospitals, the sponsor pharma companies and the institutional ethics committees that oversee these trials will all come under the regulator's scanner.
Cheaper crude oil weakens rupee even as core sector growth revives
ONGC Videsh Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has put in a bid to buy stake in a discovered oil block in Angola, after a consortium of two Chinese companies has already reported to have bid $1.5 billion last month, confirmed a top official of OVL on condition of anonymity.
Fertiliser, power plants plan expansion in anticipation
Data on clinical trials of genetically-modified brinjal have been made public by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of the environment ministry.
To raise funds for Imperial buy, create 'acquisition currency'.
The WHO feels that the practice is not only against international ethics, but also increases the risk of wrong medication. INNs are names that help to identify the chemical composition of a pharmaceutical substance without having to use long and unwieldy chemical names.
Several Indian states including Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar are offering their hospitals to the private sector to manage. This has elicited immediate positive reactions from private sector hospital chains - among them Fortis Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals and Wockhardt Hospitals.
Firm reaches out-of-court agreement on 5 of 19 patent challenges in the US.
Lower crude oil prices are expected to bring down jet fuel rates by 10 per cent in September, but passengers are unlikely to get the benefit as airlines are reluctant to reduce their fares.
In an effort to stem a possible counter-bid by China's Sinopec and others, ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas exploration subsidiary of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has through its advisor Deutsche Bank approached the large institutional investors of Imperial Energy to acquire their holdings.
An increase in project cost will lead to corresponding increase in borrowing needs of these companies, particularly the oil marketing firms that have already borrowed nearly 50 per cent more this year compared to last year because of rising crude oil prices. Companies now fear this would make borrowing tougher in terms of higher interest rate and per client exposure norms of commercial banks.
Oil ministry officials say it is unlikely that the government will accept the BK Chaturvedi Committee's recommendation for raising the retail prices of petrol and diesel as it faces general elections in less than a year. The move also risks putting pressure on inflation, which has already crossed a 13-year high.
While the government expects the new urea policy to bring more investment, the fertiliser industry is less than enthused. New capacities to make urea, industry representatives say, will come up only if adequate fuel and timely payment of subsidy dues is ensured.
Medicine prices in India are set to go up by 1-2 per cent as the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has decided to permit companies to factor in the rising packaging and processing costs into the retail price. The panel will notify the revised three costs -- for conversion, packaging and packing material -- shortly. The norms were finalised last week after a six-month-long analysis of the market.
Private and public sector oil producers, who will face a "super profits" tax on output when their selling price for crude oil touches $75 per barrel if the B K Chatruvedi committee's recommendations are accepted, say there is lack of clarity on whether they will continue to pay the current royalty of 20 per cent along with the proposed tax.
With China expected to reopen several hundred bulk drug units after the Olympics, prices of some key bulk drugs, including penicillin and paracetamol, have crashed in the Indian market.
Reliance Industries (RIL), India's largest company by market capitalisation, will begin producing gas from its Krishna- Godavari (KG) field, which is off the country's east coast, "by December" this year, a senior executive said.
The government allows the oil companies to sell only a quarter of the total quantum of bonds they hold at any time during a quarter, so as to ensure that the market is not flooded with oil bonds. It has not yet decided on how the subsidy burden will be shared across stakeholders, how much of the subsidy from the government account will be given in cash and how much in the form of bonds, says an official.
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