In sharp contrast to Europe, India takes the Ranbaxy sale in its stride: maturely and realistically

Biopharma major Biocon is planning to set up a dedicated greenfield facility to manufacture tablet formulations. The Bangalore-based company currently outsources this activity. Biocon is in the tablet formulation market in a small way now across the nephrology, diabetology, cardiology and oncology verticals. This segment accounts for about 10% of Biocons revenues, which it hopes to more than double to 25% in the next three to four years with its own manufacturing facility. Biocon manufactures its own injectable formulations across all bio-pharma verticals that it operates in.

Rising research and development(R&D) initiatives in the pharma sector has made India a more mature place for drug discovery activities than China, says a report. Further, the report prepared by US-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation noted that Indian companies are playing a strategic role in early drug discovery processes due to their vast experience in the field of generic drugs.

Malvinder Went To Seek Ally For R&D Unit, Ended Up Selling Co IT BEGAN with the Ranbaxy management looking for an investor for its R&D unit and ended up with them finding a buyer for the parent company. And ironically, while Ranbaxy has been sold, the new owners have decided to retain the R&D unit within the company.

Signs a collaboration agreement with Safety Syringes of the U.S. safety first: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon, launching the drug delivery system in Bangalore on Wednesday. Biocon launched pre-filled syringes for delivering two life-saving drugs manufactured by it. The company has entered into a collaboration agreement with Safety Syringes of the U.S. which holds the patent for the retractable device.

Even as two multinationals and an Indian pharma company fight over a generic drug to treat stomach acid, a third giant has been pulled into legal battle. Pharma biggie Wyeth had filed a patent suit against Teva Pharmaceuticals and Mumbai-based Sun Pharma for its generic drug, Protonix. Wyeth is now also suing fellow biggie Novartis, whose generic unit Sandoz has applied to bring an injectable version of Protonix to market.

With 15 states and several union territories voicing their concern about the severe shortage of vaccines following the closure of public sector manufacturing units by the Health Ministry in January, the Government is now looking towards private players to meet the demands of the affected states.

The decision taken recently by the editors of 11 Indian biomedical journals to publish only the results of human clinical trials that have been registered is laudable, considering that India has become one of the most favoured countries for conducting such trials and that more and more papers are published in Indian journals. The move is particularly significant in the context of the disturbing tendency of pharmaceutical companies to manipulate the results of human clinical trials for securing publication and drug approval.

The next time you buy any medicine check out for the 3d hologram symbol as most of the pharmaceuticals companies have come up with the authentic logo for the drive against fake drugs. While the health ministry in India estimates that only five per cent of the drugs sold in are spurious, research reveals that fake drug market in India is growing by 25 per cent annually.