India's drug regulator has initiated a probe and sought further details from the WHO after the global health body issued an alert that cough syrups manufactured by an Indian firm could potentially be linked to the death of children in Gambia.
For the third month in a row, exports rose in January, reporting 11.5 per cent growth to $14.34 billion, against $12.9 billion in the year-ago period, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday received Bhutan's highest civilian award, the 'Order of the Druk Gyalpo', making him the first foreign Head of the Government to receive the honour.
Ranbaxy Laboratories on Thursday said it will co-operate fully with any regulator from anywhere in the world wanting to investigate its manufacturing practices.
Ranbaxy Laboratories is recalling 29,790 blister packs of anti-allergy drug in the US, manufactured by its arm Ohms Laboratories, due to defective packaging.
India is one of the largest manufacturers of pharmaceutical products in the world with the annual production valued at over Rs 2 lakh crore.
FDA had cancelled Ranbaxy's approvals to launch generic Nexium, Valcyte
The country's drug companies have attracted the highest number of enforcements from the American drug regulator in 2013, a year that has seen the US Food and Drug Administration turning stricter to ensure compliance levels and quality of medicines.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it does not follow an India agenda.
In contrast with their strong performance in 2020 and 2021, pharmaceutical and healthcare funds experienced a decline in 2022, with returns plummeting by an average 9.8 per cent. This trend has continued in the current year, with year-to-date return remaining in the negative (-4.9 per cent). In the past three months, pharma funds have been hit hard, experiencing a 7.9 per cent decline.
Ranbaxy drugs sold in the United States will be gradually rebranded as Sun Pharma treatments
market, was today seized from an illegal drug manufacturing unit in Jalgaon district in north Maharashtra and six persons were arrested, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials said.
The government is likely to extend fiscal incentives for production of toys, bicycles and leather and footwear in the forthcoming budget as it looks to expand production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to cover more high-employment potential sectors, sources said. The government has already rolled out the scheme with an outlay of about Rs 2 lakh crore for as many as 14 sectors, including automobiles and auto components, white goods, pharma, textiles, food products, high efficiency solar PV modules, advance chemistry cell and speciality steel. The scheme aims to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive and create global champions in manufacturing, and it is yielding solid results, sources said.
India consistently ranked among the top three countries whose products were rejected for import by the regulator.
Hit by the new drug pricing policy and regulatory interventions, growth rate of the Rs 72,069-crore Indian pharmaceutical market has slowed down to 9.8 per cent in 2013 as compared to 16.6 per cent in 2012, says a report.
The new US bio-terrorism law, which mandates prior registration of food suppliers with the USFDA, is likely to adversely affect the Indian food and marines exports, warns a leading non-government organisation EAN-India.
Negotiations for a trade deal between India and the UK have run into fresh controversy, after the proposals under a leaked chapter of the deal on intellectual property (IP) are believed to put access to affordable, lifesaving generic medicines from India at risk. According to the draft IP chapter put out by an international trade portal bilaterals.org, the UK is seeking continuous extension of patent period and rights through small tweaks in the drug, known as evergreening. This may prevent patents from expiring, impacting cheaper drug availability and its production by Indian generic drug manufacturers.
The question is whether the Indian economy has the advantage of other vibrant sectors that can step up their performance on the exports front, says A K Bhattacharya.
Imports rise at highest pace in more than 2 years as crude oil price spikes.
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There are just 1,500 drug inspectors responsible for more than 10,000 factories in India
Within six months, outlets carrying Vicks jumped from 60,000 pharmacies to 750,000 general stores. The trade boycott collapsed. Consumers were happy, finding Vicks now at every street corner. A fascinating excerpt from Gurcharan Das's Another Sort of Freedom.
Indian drug firms continue to work closely with the FDA, and most have also appointed consultants to help them grasp the regulatory minutiae in the US.
The pharmaceutical and the consumer durables sectors, which depend on China for imports, have not been impacted yet due to unrest in China with people protesting against lockdowns. But the lockdown could have an impact on the supply of components used in consumer durables if it continues for the next fortnight. In the pharmaceutical industry, Indian players import 66-70 per cent of their bulk drug requirements from China.
India on Tuesday temporarily licensed the export of paracetamol and anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine in appropriate quantities to some countries, which have been particularly badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The finance ministry is resisting pressure from other departments to cap foreign ownership of domestic drugmakers, fearing such a move would discourage potential investors, a senior ministry source said.
'We seem to be in a situation where we can do little, and nothing needs to be done anyway.'
The China-India bilateral trade in the first half of the year totalled $57.48 billion, up 62.7 per cent year on year, perhaps the highest in recent years amid the Ladakh impasse and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released by China's Customs. Though Indian exports to China picked up with 69.6 per cent year on year increase, the trade deficit, a structural problem for India for long, climbed to 55.6 per cent. According to data released by China's Customs, India's exports to China reached $14.724 billion, up 69.6 per cent year on year in the first six months and India's imports from China amounted to $42.755 billion, up 60.4 per cent.
Researchers at Northwell Health in New York are testing the effects on Famotidine (used in high intravenous doses) on Covid-19 patients as a potential treatment. After the hospital announced its clinical trials, it led to a drug shortage in the US. Back home, however, there has not been any surge in the demand for Famotidine yet.
India lost its competitive advantage as China gave fiscal benefits to its local manufacturers. Besides, recent policy flip-flops have, however, dented India's image as the 'pharmacy of the world'.
With all major US export-oriented drug manufacturing plants in the country up for inspection in 2022, some estimates peg that at least 20-30 per cent of the new product launches lined up for the US will be subject to on-site inspection by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The last two years saw limited physical inspections due to travel restrictions during the pandemic. "Pre-Covid, the frequency and number of inspections of manufacturing plants in India by USFDA had increased significantly," analysts from ICICI Securities Research noted. "With growing ANDA filings, especially for complex products. "We expect this trend to return with the environment normalising," analysts from ICICI Securities Research noted.
The current total installed capacity of the seven manufacturers of remdesivir is 38.80 lakh vials per month, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said in a statement.
Centre mulls strategy to ensure powers given to the agencies are not misused.
The report also said that in past DEG outbreaks, manufacturers have been suspected of substituting DEG in the place of more expensive, pharmaceutical-grade solvents.
A statement issued by the WHO on Saturday said the suspension is in response to the outcomes of its post EUL (emergency use authorisation) inspection held between March 14-22, 2022 and the need to conduct process and facility upgrade to address recently identified GMP (good manufacturing practice) deficiencies.
Whistle-blower Dinesh Thakur will speak on Made-in-India drugs at an event in Washington.
