Spurious drugs in large quantities from China are finding their way into India setting off alarm bells in the government which has decided to crackdown on importers who were using forged documents and other means to sneak them in.
Vijay Pagare, who claims to be an eyewitness in the ongoing drugs on cruise case, alleged that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was framed deliberately by some people to make money.
The combined sales of the branded versions of the products in the US is about $3.5 billion.
The company has entered into an 'in-licencing agreement' with Gilead Sciences Inc to produce and sell, under licence, three new HIV/AIDS drugs which are currently in late stages of clinical development, Ranbaxy Laboratories said.
Indian biotech firm Biocon is developing potential 'blockbuster' drugs for treatment of cancer and diabetes, which could hit the market in two to four years.
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd on Monday said its product Nevirapine tablets 200 mg, has been included by World Health Organisation in its pre-qualification list.
He challenged political parties to face the polls with the issue.
In an editorial, editor-in-chief Dr Graham Jackson, a UK-based Consultant Cardiologist, has called for greater public awareness of the dangers as well as consequences of the counterfeit drugs market.
'Gift-giving' - from free dinners and drug samples to promotional merchandise - seems to be driving drugmakers' marketing - a marketing prescription deeply entrenched in the industry. This is a well-oiled racket that sees pharmaceutical (pharma) companies 'gifting' doctors to push their respective drugs under the guise of marketing. But is there a cure in sight to end this unhealthy alliance? The recent controversy following the income-tax raids on Bengaluru-based drugmaker Micro Labs, makers of popular paracetamol brand Dolo-650, has brought this to the fore, again.
At least a dozen global firms, including Roche, Pfizer and Astra Zeneca got a nod from the Drugs Controller General of India to conduct over 50 clinical trials on Indian volunteers this month, official data reveals. The global clinical research outsourcing market is projected to touch $23 billion by 2011, with consultancy firm KPMG estimating that India will corner 15 per cent of this in two years.
Pharmexcil had recently taken a 25-member delegation to Iran in order to promote pharma trade with the Western Asia nation.
The company has received a Civil Investigative Demand from the US Department of Justice, Ranbaxy Laboratories said in a filing to the BSE.
In 2009, Ranbaxy had to recall about 4,000 cartons of Sotret Isotretinoin through its US-based subsidiary.
Drug major Ranbaxy on Wednesday said it has received approval from the Australian health regulator to market its antipsychotic drug Ozidal Risperidone in that country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 30 percent of medicines sold in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are spurious.
India's Supreme Court in April rejected a patent for Novartis AG's cancer drug Glivec, saying it was an amended version of a known molecule called imatinib, setting the precedent for more such cases in the country.
Aurobindo Pharma has received licences from Bristol Myers Squibb Co to market two anti-AIDS drugs in 49 countries.
India's largest drug manufacturer, Ranbaxy Laboratories, had falsified data and test results of medicines manufactured at its Himachal Pradesh facility to obtain marketing approval in the United States, says the US Food and Drug Administration.
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.
Various domestic companies such as Ranbaxy, Wockhardt and Agila Specialities recently came under the US FDA scanner for lapse in manufacturing practices.
Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's and other Indian drug makers may cut production as overseas buyers, hurt by the credit crunch, defer export orders. The move could also lower the country's drug exports by at least 10 per cent in the year ending March 2010, industry experts say."Many of our members have been intimated by their importers to stop shipments until further notice," said Venkat Jasti, chairman, Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council.
Piramal Life Sciences may become the first company to successfully develop a tuberculosis drug whose leads isolated from the living organisms found in ice brought from the Antarctica region. "(Our) scientists have identified additional leads that will help develop drugs to treat tuberculosis and other infections," revealed Swati Piramal, director, Nicholas Piramal.
'The difference between black money in India and the black money out of India is, in India, it is tax evaded money and Indian money outside India is not only tax evaded money, but money which has been taken out of India's capital resources needed for India. So it is not only tax evasion, but treason too.'
Daiichi Sankyo, Japan's third-largest drug maker, has transferred six of its early drug discovery programmes in inflammatory and infectious diseases from its Japanese research & development (R&D) facilities to India.
US-based Merck is confident that its cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil will help it to secure a position among the country's top five drug companies in the next five years.
It is now probing the quality of AIDS medicines supplied by the company to developing countries under US government-funded programmes. Estimates suggest that Ranbaxy has received over $9 million from the programme so far. Ranbaxy had a turnover of $1.5 billion in 2007-08, of which a quarter came from US sales.
In a continuing trend for the previous two quarters, foreign currency fluctuations and mark-to- market losses are affecting profits of India's drug makers, despite increase in net sales ranging between 4.5 and 42 per cent for most of the firms during the three-month period.
Currently, the govt directly caps prices of 348 formulations at the average price of all medicines in a particular segment with at least 1% market share
"Through this partnership, the reach of Sitagliptin and Sitagliptin plus Metformin will be enhanced amongst doctors and patients in India, helping them efficaciously manage the disease," Sun Pharma Chief Executive Officer Kalyanasundaram said in a joint statement issued by the two firms.
Ranbaxy Laboratories has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Clarithromycin XL 1,000 mg tablets.
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