The compulsory licence for Nexavar is only the beginning of a new battle over drug prices. (Editorial)

In January 2005, drug product patent protection was reintroduced in India to comply with the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. How are the multinational pharmaceutical companies responding to the new policy environment? Is India likely to see monopolisation of the industry and high prices, which was the pattern before 1972 when India had product patent protection? Will the positive features of the post-1972 process patent era be diluted or negated?

Costly corporate seeds are not only jacking up our food bill but also affecting community sharing.

In 2009, the promulgation of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tobacco regulation focused attention on cigarette flavor additives. The tobacco industry had prepared for this eventuality by initiating a research program focusing on additive toxicity. The objective of this study was to analyze Philip Morris' Project MIX as a case study of tobacco industry scientific research being positioned strategically to prevent anticipated tobacco control regulations.

Doles are not a long-term solution for poverty alleviation; they only promote indolence. Catering to the rising life-style of urban India and leading rural Bharat to a spiral of prosperity can only come through setting up of productive enterprise, opines Chandigarh-based technologist and entrepreneurial professional Chandra Mohan.