A fresh US executive order (EO) which seeks to bring down prices of prescription drugs in the country by up to 90 per cent -- on par with other developed nations -- will affect innovator companies, while sparing the Indian generic drug makers in the short term. US President Donald Trump signed the EO on Monday, directing the US Trade Representative and the Secretary of Commerce to act against foreign countries that "purposefully and unfairly undercut market prices", driving price hikes in the US.
India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar addressed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting, advocating for a 'zero tolerance' approach to terrorism and emphasizing the need for the SCO to adapt to the changing global landscape.
US President Donald Trump's plan to sign an executive order to cut prescription drug prices by 30-80 per cent could lead to a global price adjustment with pharma firms pushing lower-cost countries like India to raise prices, according to the economic think tank GTRI. The US move could push prices in lower-cost countries like India as manufacturers would seek to recover losses and R&D costs from these nations.
First, 50 grams of MDMA was found in the car. Subsequently, the woman was medically examined and found to have hidden around 40 grams of MDMA in her private parts, police said.
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.
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.
Delhi-based pharma major Mankind Pharma on Wednesday announced a collaboration with OpenAI to institutionalise artificial intelligence (AI) across its value chain, making it one of the first few Indian pharmaceutical companies to fully integrate advanced AI into its core operations.
The arrests have been made by officials of Sector 126 police station as part of a crackdown on narcotics ordered by police commissioner Laxmi Singh, deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Harish Chander said.
Mangaluru Police in Karnataka have seized over 37 kg of MDMA, valued at Rs 75 crore, marking the biggest-ever drug haul in the state. Two South African nationals were arrested in Bengaluru in connection with the case. The operation stemmed from an earlier arrest six months ago, leading authorities to an international drug network with links to traffickers using air routes between Delhi and Bengaluru. The arrested individuals are suspected of supplying drugs to Nigerian peddlers and using forged passports and visas for travel. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lauded the police operation and highlighted the government's commitment to building a drug-free society.
Concerns over weakening demand for Indian pharmaceutical (pharma) drugs in the US - their largest export market - have weighed heavily on investor sentiment this year. While the Nifty 50 has gained 6.02 per cent year - to - date (as on September 15), the Nifty Pharma index has declined 5.18 per cent, National Stock Exchange data shows.
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.
Punjab Police launched a statewide operation against drugs, conducting raids at more than 750 locations as the cabinet sub-committee on the drug menace held its first meeting on Saturday. Around 12,000 police personnel were involved in the operation being carried out as part of an anti-drug campaign. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday set a deadline of three months to make the state drug-free. The operation led to the arrest of 290 drug smugglers after registration of 232 FIRs. Police recovered 8.14 kg heroin, 1.21 kg opium, 3.5 kg ganja, 19 kg poppy husk, 700 grams charas, 16,238 intoxicant tablets, injections and Rs 8.02 lakh cash.
A 23-year-old man, identified as Afan, has been arrested for allegedly killing six people, including his 13-year-old brother, in Kerala. Police suspect that Afan was under the influence of drugs and have found evidence of drug use. The murders took place across three houses in the Venjaramoodu area near the state capital. Afan's mother, who survived the attack, is hospitalized. The victims also include Afan's grandmother, a young woman said to be his lover, his paternal uncle, and his uncle's wife. Police are investigating the motive behind the murders.
A total of 149 kgs of mephedrone or 'meow meow' drug (both in powder and liquid form), 50 kg ephedrine, and 200 litres of acetone was recovered from the three labs located in Bhinmal of Jalore district and Osian in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the officer said.
As the potential threat of a steep 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceutical imports hangs in the air, analysts and industry insiders feel that focus on exports to non-US regions as well as domestic market will increase as a long-term trend. US President Donald Trump told CNBC's Squawk Box in the first week of August that planned tariffs on import of pharmaceutical products to the US could eventually reach up to 250 per cent.
Trump said California has been particularly "hard hit" because of this, blaming democrat Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, for this loss, calling him "weak and incompetent."
US accounts for a large part of revenue for top Indian pharma companies like Gland Pharma (54 percent), Dr Reddy's (53 per cent), and Aurobindo Pharma (48 per cent).
An alleged synthetic narcotics producer, Kubbawala Mustafa, wanted on an Interpol Red Notice, was deported to India from the UAE in an operation coordinated by the CBI and Mumbai police.
India's pharmaceuticals and medical devices industries are still hopeful that trade negotiations with the US could cut a fairer deal for both sides, after President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff rate on India on a social networking platform without divulging the finer details.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is likely to benefit from a major wave of patent expiries in the US, as small-molecule drugs worth $63.7 billion are expected to go off-patent between 2025-29, a 65 per cent rise over the previous five years, according to a report by Antique stock broking limited.
Most of the pharma units are failing in documentation, and validation processes, and many don't have full-fledged quality control laboratories.
According to officials, Aman Preet Singh is among five people arrested as customers.
'What the US appears to be doing is to force India to be "the buyer of last resort", on whom their products can be dumped, 1.4 billion people have to eat something, so why not eat American corn?' 'What is exercising the Trump lot is the fact that most of the farms are in solidly Republican Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
Donald Trump's tariffs, meant as political punishment, have avoided the predicted chaos, lifting US growth, weakening rivals, and letting him claim victory in a resilient global economy, observes T T Ram Mohan.
Indian drugmakers supply 47 per cent of the generic medicine requirements in the US, and tariffs would have increased prices in the US domestic market for patients, who are already dealing with drug shortages.
"The chats recovered from Aryan Khan's mobile phone reveal that in the year 2018-19, she helped supply drugs to Aryan thrice by providing him the numbers of drug dealers," NCB sources told ANI.
As the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) is set to crack down on companies to ensure compliance with printing QR codes on top-selling brands to curb counterfeiting, top pharma companies say they welcome the regulator's mandate and that they are on track. They also view it as a positive step to ensure patient safety. Sheetal Arora, CEO of Mankind Pharmaceuticals, which has already adopted QR codes in 20 of their products, stated: "We strongly advocate for mandatory implementation of barcodes and QR codes on medicines as this initiative will not only protect patients but also strengthen the integrity of our healthcare system by reducing circulation of counterfeit drugs."
'What India has done will surely embolden more countries to stand up to Trump.'
'India did not surrender. That was why he wanted to pressurise India by this 25% tariffs.'
Due to the massive short supply of Paxlovid, demand for Indian generic versions has gone up through Chinese e-commerce platforms.
A 49-year-old man, who was on the run for around 25 years, has been arrested in Delhi in connection with a string of crimes where he allegedly hired taxis, killed the drivers, dumped their bodies in remote forested areas of Uttarakhand and sold the vehicles off across the Nepal border, a senior police officer said on Sunday.
The Bombay high court on Monday granted bail to Siddharth Pithani, the former flatmate of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who was arrested in a drugs case related to the actor's death.
The Punjab Police has busted a narco-terror module and arrested four individuals, including a father-son duo, recovering 4 kilograms of heroin. The accused were in direct contact with Pakistan-based drug smugglers, according to Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav. The arrests were made in an intelligence-led operation by the Counter Intelligence (CI) unit in Amritsar, following inputs about individuals receiving a drug consignment from the Attari area. The DGP stated that preliminary investigations have revealed the involvement of a foreign-based individual identified as Bhullar, who is believed to be managing the gang.
The drugs seized include 3,089 kilograms of charas, 158 kg of Methamphetamine and 25 kg of morphine.
"India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits," Trump said in a social media post on Monday.
Merchandise exports to the US jumped 23.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $8.3 billion in June, even as India's overall outbound shipments witnessed contraction during the month, according to the data released by the commerce department on Tuesday. The increase in outbound shipments to the US was largely driven by the rush among exporters to utilise America's pause on its plans to impose country-specific reciprocal tariffs.
The stock and bond markets told Trump firmly that any idea of isolating China would lead to harming the US economy and this forced Trump to backtrack, points out Aakar Patel.
The number of people who died after taking spurious drugs supplied by a state-run hospital in Pakistan's Punjab province has touched 100 even as scores more continue to be treated in hospitals across the province, officials said on Thursday.
Tahawwur Rana has the answers to festering questions on the 26/11 terror attacks and the NIA must pry it out of him, even if they have to feed him biryani, advocates Athimuthu Ganesh Nadar.
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.
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