New Delhi Stiff opposition from research organisations on how clinical trial victims should be compensated has dealt a blow to health ministry’s efforts to legislate the matter. The ministry was on the brink of making it mandatory for pharmaceutical companies sponsoring clinical trials to pay up financial compensation to volunteers in case a trial-related death or injury is proved.

Under the proposed law, the onus of proving that clinical trials did not cause death or injury, was expected to lie with the drug company. Failure to pay up the compensation within a specified time would have not only led to suspension or cancellation of the ongoing trials,

New Delhi/Mumbai Reigning cola brands Coke, Thums Up and Pepsi and energy drinks such as Red Bull are set to lose a bit of their fizz with the government planning to make it mandatory for caffeinated beverages to flash a statutory warning stating they are not the ‘the right thing’ for certain sections of the population.

The Union health ministry may soon ask manufacturers of caffeinated drinks to carry the warning ‘Not recommended for children, pregnant or lactating women, persons sensitive to caffeine’ on the principal display panel of their products in a typeface sufficiently large and bold so that the message doesn’t go unnoticed.

New Delhi Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma has mooted a new formula to the group of ministers (GoM) on pharma pricing to keep prices of essential medicines in check.

New Delhi Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha on Friday urged the group of ministers on pharma pricing, headed by Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, to extend the regime of price control to all the drugs available in the retail market.

Mirdha argued that profits earned by pharma companies were primarily used in promotional expenses and for foray into other businesses. She claimed that top-50 pharma companies spend over R5,300 crore every year, while generating sales of slightly over R28,769 crore.

New Delhi The government has made it mandatory for pharmaceutical companies sponsoring clinical trials in the country to pay financial compensation to volunteers in case a trial-related death or in

New Delhi The government plans to quantify the economic losses the country suffers by compromising on food safety.

The country’s food regulator — Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) — has already initiated talks with the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, in this regard. “In India, data on economic losses due to food safety is either not available and if available, it is lying scattered with various agencies.

Just like our people, every Indian-origin drug will be counted and have its history documented soon.

The US and India are keen on working together on a low-cost intervention programme to combat diabetes which has emerged as a critical public health challenge for both the countries. This decision is a product of the brainstorming session of the high-powered US-India CEOs