Reliance Power Limited, the flagship company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), plans to invest about Rs 2,500-3,000 crore (Rs 25-30 billion) over a period of three years, to develop three coal mines to fuel its Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in Madhya Pradesh. Reliance Power currently has access to coal reserves of about one billion tonnes in India and abroad, including a coal mine in Indonesia, which it acquired recently.
The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has asked Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, the US subsidiary of Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries, to withdraw many batches of its generic Metformin Hydrochloride tablets used for treating diabetes, citing efficacy and quality issues. According to a USFDA Class II withdrawal announced on March 19, Caraco will have to withdraw seven lots of Metformin Hydrochloride in bottles of 100, 500 and 1000 tablets each.
The next time you buy a shirt or trouser that claims to be stain- and wrinkle-free, thank nanotechnology for it. The Indian government has allocated Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) for the development of nanotechnology which involves studying and working with matter on an ultra-small scale. The nanotech market globally is expected to cross $1 trillion by 2010. In India, the maximum research in nanotechnology is taking place in the biotechnology and medicine segments.
Analysts feel this decision is yet another example of big-ticket acquisitions turning sour for Indian pharma firms, as happened in the case of Dr Reddy's acquisition of Betapharm of Germany for Rs 2,250 crore (Rs 22.5 billion).
Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceuticals has filed a post-grant opposition with the Mumbai patent office against a product patent granted to the extended release version of Johnson and Johnson's (J&J) blockbuster drug Risperdal, used in the treatment of psychological disorders and schizophrenia.
Sun Pharma has increased its stake in Israel's Taro by buying 9.5% more, raising its total holding to 34.4 per cent.
The initiative will include special training for Customs and drug regulatory officials to identify spurious drugs, their origin, distribution chain and follow-up action to raid premises and book culprits, in coordination with regulatory and police officials of various countries.
Pharma majors are collaborating with foreign companies to develop newer drugs.
More than half of the small-scale pharmaceutical units operational in India have either closed down or indefinitely suspended business activities in the last two years, having being struck by un-favourable government policies and the inability to compete with big companies in the changing business environment.
Tata Chemicals has undertaken experiments with biofuel. If these efforts are successful, the company will take up large scale manufacturing of biofuel at its Nanded plant.
Suzlon Energy is relocating its management team to Amsterdam to span their global business.
According to sources, the company will invest $350-400 million in the proposed plant. This will be the first foray by an Indian company for manufacturing cement in West Asia which was so far viewed as an export market.
Multinational drug manufacturers such as Pfizer and DSM are increasingly getting into contract manufacturing alliances with emerging bulk drug makers in the country, bypassing established players such as Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's.
Oil India chief reveals plans of the upcoming IPO and future investment strategies.
Cipla tops pharma rankings with 5.42% market share, ahead of Ranbaxy and GSK.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the country's leading oil and gas exploration and production company, is entering the alternative energy segment with a Rs 1,200 crore-plus (Rs 12 billion) investment to generate 200 mw of wind power for captive use, within two years.
With 40 million diabetic patients and an equal number of people estimated to be diabetic prone, India is emerging as a major market for blood glucose monitoring solutions.
In another setback to Big Pharma, US drug major Eli Lilly's blockbuster erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (generic name:Tadalafil) has failed to qualify for a product patent in India after the basic constituent of the medicine was found to be a known substance, developed and patented by Indian scientists 32 years ago.
Interestingly, the European Patent Office is yet to grant a patent for Maraviroc, citing insufficient data, sources said. These were the main reasons cited by the Indian Patent Office for rejecting the patent for the cancer drug Gleevec, which snowballed into a global patent battle between the Swiss drug major Novartis and the Indian government.
Suzlon Energy, one of the top five wind energy manufacturers in the world, plans to raise $500 million (Rs 2,000 crore) through the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) route to fund its expansion plans.
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