Sputum test, a laboratory screening to detect tuberculosis (TB), has been made mandatory in India for all patients with cough that persists more than 2 weeks.

  A drug to cure the dreaded dengue fever will be ready to test in humans in next two years. Dengue fever, which affects millions of people in the poor countries has no known cure yet.

  Prick-free alternative to painful insulin shots.

Pharma sector employment opportunities better as Aventis, GSK, Merck looking fill hundreds of jobs in field & marketing.

  Slimming pill can cause depression, sucidal tendencies and pschychiatric problems

The question doing rounds now is whether India would water down cGMP norms any further, succumbing to the demands of a clutch small-time drug makers. Current good manufacturing practices or cGMP is a set of norms to be followed by pharmaceutical manufacturers to ensure quality and safety of the drug products.

  India has five drug manufacturing companies under public sector. The basic idea behind the Indian government creating these public sector undertakings or PSUs in India’s health sector is to check the possible monopolistic practices by the leading, privately-held drug makers and to ensure affordability of certain essential medicines to the larger public.

If the purpose of government-funded public sector drug companies is to provide cost arbitrage through resisting drug monopoly by private firms, the very objective has taken a big blow in India!

Ranbaxy refrigerated drugs instead of storing them under room temperature, reveals a US FDA release. Drug samples are usually stored in over a period of time to test thier stability in normal conditions of temperature, humidity etc. The US drug regulator which hauled up India's leading generic maker for repeatedly violating manufacturing norms since atleast 2006, found out 1,676 errors in the audit of 15 applications approved for the US market.