China has formally apologised to Nigeria for alleged export of fake drugs including some labelled as 'Made in India' by some Chinese firms to the country and assured to take punitive action against those involved in the scandal.
The FDA has stepped up its efforts to ensure drug safety in recent months.
The domestic drug industry has expressed serious concern over the central government's decision to make it mandatory to carry a barcode on every medicine pack meant for exports from July 1.
Singapore on Wednesday executed a man convicted of trafficking one kilogramme of cannabis, ignoring international calls to abolish capital punishment.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has commissioned a quality check on MDH and Everest products. This follows complaints that several popular spice mixes of the two leading brands contained traces of ethylene oxide more than the permissible levels, official sources said. This move by FSSAI comes after Hong Kong and Singapore recalled variants of the two masala majors' products in their countries.
The total incentive outgo under the ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme is estimated to be less than Rs. 40,000 crore by the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), when it completes the fourth year of implementation, according to the government's internal estimates. This means only a fourth of the allocated Rs 1.97 trillion is expected to be utilised by the end of FY24, indicating that not all the 14 PLI schemes would have taken off fully. While three of the 14 schemes - large-scale electronics manufacturing, bulk drugs, and medical devices - were introduced in 2020, the remaining were launched the following year.
The BSE Healthcare Index is up 19 per cent as compared to BSE Sensex returns of 11 per cent during this period. Nitin Agarwal of DAM Capital highlighted this trend in a report last month. "After a sustained period of underperformance over FY21-23, the BSE Healthcare Index has once again captured the spotlight. "The recent uptick in performance has been driven by hospitals and emerging green shoots in pharmaceutical exports, particularly to the US, along with sustaining momentum in domestic branded formulations," he said.
Rathod said the Maharashtra government had initiated an inquiry against 84 out of 108 manufacturers of cough syrups in the state.
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.
Demand will boom in the US and China, but exporters say it will be difficult for India to tap these markets.
India's exports remained in the negative territory for the 11th month in a row.
Big pharma companies, however, said while it was true that formulation players would not rush to buy raw material, they could not afford losing customers.
The government has formed the Export Promotion Council for Pharmaceuticals (Pharmaexcil) to boost pharma exports.
The move has come days after the state government announced to form a special investigation team to probe into the death of Disha Salian, the former manager of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Indian pharmaceutical companies are heavily dependent on China to source fermentation-based active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates to manufacture these medicines, but the coronavirus outbreak there has disrupted the supply.
Margaret A Hamburg, the first commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) to visit India officially, will meet heads of major domestic pharma companies such as Ranbaxy, Wockhardt, Cadila Healthcare and Lupin in New Delhi.
Lower IT exports will raise India's dependence on capital flows to fund imports.
After establishing its dominance in the export of bulk drugs (raw materials for medicine production) to India, the Chinese drug industry is exploring ways to enter the final frontier in drug production - the finished goods or formulation business - in the country.
India-France synergy is poised to open vistas of collaboration between the two countries, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Various domestic companies such as Ranbaxy, Wockhardt and Agila Specialities recently came under the US FDA scanner for lapse in manufacturing practices.
'The deaths of the children in the Gambia would batter India's reputation as the developing world's pharmacy.'
The DGP said after concealing the contraband, the accused persons had meticulously welded the door border and repainted it.
The trade deficit is now at $21 billion.
DCGI, health ministry initiate dialogues with foreign regulators, try to understand global best practices
In a victory for Indian drug companies, patent protection has been refused to Tenofovir, an anti-AIDS medicine of the US-based Gilead Sciences. The decision was taken by the patent office in New Delhi.
Currency played an important role in Q2, with US dollar, Japanese yen and euro appreciating vis-a-vis the Indian rupee, while the Brazilian real, South African rand and Russian ruble depreciating against rupee.
Samples of the cough syrup have been taken from the manufacturing premises in Noida and sent to the Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory (RDTL) in Chandigarh for testing, Mandaviya said.
Last year, India's agricultural exports to the United States topped $5 billion.
Pulse oximeters, hand sanitisers, temperature check equipment and ambulances too will attract lower 5 per cent tax.
One of the most wanted drug lord of Australia, Hakan Ayik, is being suspected of setting up a "super" drug laboratory in India, a media report said.
They said after examining and analysing the adverse event reports, causal relationship and all related details shared by or to be shared by the WHO, the committee will advise and recommend further course of action to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
Overall, the credit profiles of players will be supported by healthy balance sheets and liquidity. Prudence in capital and development expenditure, efficient working-capital management, and recent equity raising will help sustain credit metrics in FY22.
India will export its first warship later this month, a move that is seen as a big leap for the country's defence public sector units.
India on Monday raised serious concerns over the USFDA's audit inspections of Indian pharma companies and 'disproportionate penalties' in some instances and said it would submit a discussion document on the issues to the US.
