GURCHARAN DAS

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved extending grants-in-aid to the pharmaceutical industry for research and development projects, involving clinical trials to develop new drugs for neglected diseases of tropical regions, under the Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Research Programme (DPRP) of the Department of Science and Technology.

SUN Pharmaceutical Industries, the country's most valuable drugmaker, has decided to launch a hostile bid for Israel's Taro Pharmaceutical Industries. This is a rare instance of an Indian company making an unsolicited bid for a foreign firm. The move follows Taro's rejection of a merger agreement with Sun last month. Taro had termed the offer

Ranbaxy Laboratories has received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market the generic version of Roche's Valcyte (valganciclovir hydrochloride Tablets, 450 mg), a drug used for treatment of cytomegalovirus retinitis in patients afflicted with AIDS. Being the first company to apply for the marketing the medicine in the US, Ranbaxy is expected to get 180-days exclusive marketing opportunity after the patent protection on the drug expires. Roche's patent for Valcyte will end in 2015.

Has Malvinder Singh truly freed Ranbaxy from risk by opting for an out-of-court settlement with Pfizer over Lipitor as he has claimed? The markets and analysts certainly thought otherwise. Investors dumped the Ranbaxy stock last week after the company announced that it had closed the feud with Pfizer over cholesterol pill Lipitor. Ranbaxy agreed not to litigate any further against Pfizer's patents on the drug. Pfizer, in return, allowed it to launch generic Lipitor in the US by the end of 2011.

Israel-based Taro Pharmaceuticals has sued its proposed buyer Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in an Israel court, for allegedly thwarting attempts to sell off Taro's subsidiary with drug-making facilities in Ireland to a group of investors. In a letter to Taro shareholders, the firm's Chairman Barrie Levitt said on June 15 that it had commenced litigation in Israel to stop Sun from engaging in "practices that we deem detrimental to our ability to maximize the value of the Irish operations in a sale". THE LAWSUIT

In a decision that will go a long way in soothing people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHAs), the Indian patent office today turned down the claim of a drug company to patent nevirapine. The drug is critical to HIV/AIDS treatment strategy, and is a crucial part of treatment for children affected by the virus. Patenting the drug would have meant limited access to HIV/AIDS treatment.

Joe C Mathew India has rejected German drug major Boehringer Ingelheim's application for a pediatric form of anti-AIDS drug nevirapine bowing to objections from the country's civil society group and also to help local companies continue selling the medicine. The rejected patent application covers the syrup form of nevirapine, which is particularly important for children with HIV who are unable to swallow tablets. The rejection will allow generic drug companies like Aurobindo and Cipla to continue marketing low-cost versions of the medicine in the domestic market. BITTER PILL