Indian Drug Manufacturers Association on Friday demanded reduction in excise duty on drugs and pharmaceutical products to 8 per cent from the current 16 per cent.
The European Union's (EU's) offer to slash tariffs on 97.5 per cent of Indian chemical exports to zero is set to give India's pharmaceutical and medical device firms preferential access to the European markets.
The $1.2 billion in-space manufacturing market is expected to grow and be worth more than $20 billion by 2033.
The UK government has announced a new road safety strategy, including 'Dev's Law' named after an Indian-origin boy killed in a road accident, to reduce deaths and serious injuries on British roads.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued an alert against three "substandard" oral cough syrups identified in India and urged national regulatory authorities worldwide to immediately notify it if these are detected in their country.
The death toll from contaminated cough syrup in Madhya Pradesh has risen to 22, with two more children succumbing to kidney infections. An investigation is underway, and arrests have been made.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has defended a doctor arrested in connection with cough syrup deaths in Madhya Pradesh, attributing the incident to failures in the drugs regulatory system.
Days after medical representatives said their employers were flouting the government's drug-pricing norms, the pharmaceutical industry has decided to clip their wings. These companies want them to be no longer recognised as "workmen," a classification that gives them the right to form trade unions.
The government has been stringent with pricing changes. Prices of 651 essential medicines came down from April 1, 2023 by 6.73 per cent with the government capping ceiling prices of these drugs.
While extending the National List of Essential Medicines will help patients, care has to be taken to ensure this does not lead to a slowdown of production as has happened in case of DPCO drugs.
The rationalisation of goods and services tax (GST), announced on Wednesday, directly lowers the cost of everyday medical consumables, and also high-end therapies in oncology and rare diseases, helping reduce out-of-pocket patient expenditure and better adherence to medication.
Amid controversy over USPresident Donald Trump's comments linking the use of Tylenol and other related paracetamol products by pregnant women to autism in children, experts and industry executives say that since India's export of the drug to the US is less, it will hardly affect the country's pharma exports to America.
Proposes to increase Exemption Limit for Small Service Providers from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.
If pharmaceutical exports from India to the US come under a 25 per cent tariff bracket, the impact on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) could be around 5 per cent, felt analysts. This is after assuming that about 75 per cent of the tariff would be passed on.
State governments have requested the Centre for export incentives, lifting of import duty in the case of cotton for the textile sector and GST exemptions.
With an eye on improving quality assurance in the wake of increased global scrutiny on Indian pharma products, the Centre on Tuesday said that Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 will be made compulsory for small and medium scale manufacturers in a phased manner. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asked micro-small and medium enterprises in pharma manufacturing to move towards good manufacturing practices (GMP) through self regulation. "This will help in quality assurance and also reduce compliance burden," Mandaviya.
Indian Council of Medical Research had also recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating healthcare workers handling suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases and also the asymptomatic household contacts of the lab-confirmed cases.
Global Pharma Healthcare is recalling entire lots of eye drop linked to vision loss in the US, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The Chennai-based company is recalling all lots of artificial tears lubricant eye drops distributed by EzriCare, LLC and Delsam Pharma to the consumer level due to possible contamination, the US health regulator said in a statement. "The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alerted FDA to an investigation of a multi-state cluster of Verona Integron-mediated Metallo--lactamase (VIM)- and Guiana-Extended Spectrum--Lactamase (GES)- producing carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (VIM-GES-CRPA) infections possibly associated with the use of the artificial tears manufactured by Global Pharma Healthcare," USFDA said.
Various industry bodies have sought immediate government intervention through the imposition of anti-dumping duties, claiming India has seen a surge in imports of Chinese goods over the past two weeks.
The state govt has raised drug procurement budget.
The industry feels that prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can go up in the range of 5-15 per cent.
The top 300 pharmaceutical brands in the country will now bear a quick response (QR) code on their packaging to rein in spurious drugs and ensure better traceability.
The products worth Rs 5,000 crore have been banned for manufacture, distribution and sale with immediate effect causing hardship to manufacturers and patients.
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The Drug (Prices Control) Order implemented in May last year brought into its purview 652 packs of 348 formulations.
The USTR report, released just ahead of the US' April 2 deadline for implementing reciprocal tariffs, has also cited high tariffs and price caps, which have not increased in line with inflation, as key obstacles for US businesses.
The pre-Budget memoranda of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry have said more incentives are needed to spur drug research.
China's API exports to India touched $3.3 billion last year, while Indian drugs struggled to post $500 million worth of exports to China.
Industry insiders in India warn that any such move in the pharmaceutical sector could be counterproductive for the US as it may face increased drug shortages if tariffs are imposed on such imports.
In a double-dose bid to boost growth and employment prospects, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 2.07 trillion outlay for a research development and innovation (RDI) Scheme to fund private sector innovations, and an employment-linked incentive (ELI) to create over 35 million new jobs over the next two years.
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.
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The move is expected to delay the introduction of low-priced medicines in the market.
Earlier, Jaslok Hospital had issued an advisory to its doctors to avoid prescribing drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy.
According to the Department of Pharmaceuticals' annual report for 2024-25, India imported medical devices worth $8.1 billion, while exports stood at $3.7 billion in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24)
The government proposes to cut custom duties on Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab from 10 per cent to nil.
Over 50 pharmaceutical companies have scaled down operations in Maharashtra and Gujarat and are moving out to states like Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh following steep hike in excise duty in the Union Budget.
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