The Union health ministry has issued draft rules to mandate a blue vertical strip on all antimicrobial drug labels, aiming to rein in over-the-counter misuse and tackle India's growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem.
The Union health ministry has banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of all oral formulations containing the popular painkiller nimesulide above 100 milligrams for human use, citing health risks.
Drug regulator DCGI has asked drug controllers of all states and Union Territories to direct manufacturers under their jurisdiction to monitor the presence of a potentially carcinogenic chemical -- N-Nitrosodimethylamine -- in antacid Ranitidine.
At present, there is no provision under Drugs Rules, 1945 to address issues of wrong information to obtain regulatory approvals.
FDC drugs are those which contain a combination of two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients in a fixed ratio and are also referred to as 'cocktail' drugs.
rediffGURU Nayagam PP advises young aspirants how to pick the right course and career.
A large number of medical device-manufacturing units have been forced to move to Vietnam and Malaysia due to delays, inconsistent timelines, and a lack of transparency in licensing processes, according to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare.
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill 2025, aimed at decriminalizing minor offenses to promote ease of living and business, was introduced in the Lok Sabha and referred to a Select Committee.
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The Drugs Controller General of India is considering the recommendations of its advisory body to revoke the suspension of the sale of analgin-based medicines in the country.
The new regime aims to bring in ease of doing business, as the NITI Aayog has proposed to do away with the need to have manufacturing licences to register medical devices or to get a certificate of compliance.
The change in labelling, which is seen as a part of government's effort to push generic drugs, will come into effect from September 13.
The original list had named 349 drugs, but 15 drugs, approved prior to 1988, have been kept outside the purview of the ban
Dr Ganesh Natarajan, a special guest on rediffGURUS, has been addressing questions from Rediff readers, about how to grow professionally, how women can achieve leadership roles in Indian companies, and what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Experts believe the move will have little impact given limited production of generic drugs and authority of doctors in prescribing medicines.
Besides opposing the suspension of three medicines, the sector has also questioned the process adopted by the government.
Industry is gathering scientific data to approach the regulator, DCGI, for a review of the suspension order.
The Delhi high court had earlier allowed Indian pharma major Wockhardt to sell its Ace Proxyvon tablets, which is a mixture of three salts -- aceclofenac, paracetamol and rabeprazol -- a combination that is banned.
Some of the popular brands that would be impacted include Phensedyl (Abbott), Tixylix (Abbott), Gluconorm PG (Lupin), Ascoril D (Glenmark), Solvin Cold (Ipca), D Cold Total (Paras Pharma).
Roadblocks ahead as these medicines could face new clinical tests, more scrutiny
Codeine-based formulations are under the scanner for misuse as a narcotic product.
India currently does not have any XBB 1.5 variant-based vaccines available.
The World Health Organisation's technical advisory group will meet on October 26 to consider the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of Covaxin, a vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech protecting against COVID-19, the global health agency's chief scientist said.
The Standing Technical Sub-Committee (STSC) of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on Thursday recommended reducing the gap between the second and precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the current nine to six months, official sources said.
The Serum Institute of India is the first Indian company to seek approval for the COVID-19 booster dose.
According to officials, an additional dose of vaccine is different from a booster dose.
Popular antacid Mucaine Gel, manufactured by Pfizer's subsidiary Wyeth Laboratories, was also found laced with the heavy metals as well as cadmium.
'WHO & an independent group of experts are scheduled to meet next week to carry out the risk/benefit assessment and come to a final decision whether to grant Emergency Use Listing to Covaxin,' the global health body tweeted.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday told Bharatiya Janata Party MPs that Covid vaccination for children is likely to start soon, sources said.
Zydus Cadila has agreed to bring down the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to Rs 265 a dose following persistent negotiations by the government but a final deal is yet to be reached, sources said on Sunday.
'We seem to be in a situation where we can do little, and nothing needs to be done anyway.'
Shockingly, students of various schools and colleges were clients of Hyderabad drug peddlers.
The Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the CDSCO on October 12 after deliberating Bharat Biotech's EUA application had recommended granting emergency use approval to Covaxin for use in the 12-18 years age group with certain conditions.
After recognising its adverse health effects, the govt has now dismissed its own lab reports to conclude that the evidence against plastic is insufficient.
'Someone may have diabetes, but at what level the disease qualifies as a comorbid condition is something a doctor will decide upon and certify accordingly.'
With talks underway between the central government and Zydus Cadila over the pricing of the COVID-19 vaccine ZyCov-D, the pharma company is learnt to have proposed a price of Rs 1,900 for its three-dose jab that can be given to those above 12 years of age.
'WHO issued an emergency use listing for Covovax, expanding the basket of WHO-validated vaccines against COVID-19. The vaccine is produced by the Serum Institute of India under licence from Novavax,' the world health body said in a tweet on Friday.
He explained, "Children between the age of 12 and 18 years, particularly those in the age group of 15 to 18 years, are very much like adults. Our research within the country also says that almost two-thirds of the deaths below 18 years which occurred due to COVID in India are within this age group. So, this decision was mainly taken to protect the adolescents."
'Almost 60 per cent of 2,000 songs had references to drugs and violence.'
rediffGURU Mayank Chandel offers advice to students interested in a careers in science or engineering after class 10 and 12.
The endemic stage is when a population learns to live with a virus.
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