April 2010

In the wake of the present expired drugs scam that plagued the entire pharma industry in Tamil Nadu, the Industry Division of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association plans to conduct a Panel Discussion on ‘How to Handle the Expired Drugs’. The programme will be conducted in Chennai in the first week of next month.

The introduction of 3G technology will change the face of healthcare delivery and the huge wave of 3G licenses and its impact on healthcare will be exponential. The availability of 3G bandwidth will enable video broadcast and data-intensive services telemedicine through wireless communications which will help accessibility of medical care to patients in far flung areas, said Vishal Bali, CEO Fortis Hospital.

April 21, 2010 — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added a boxed warning to the drug label for propylthiouracil about reports of severe liver injury and acute liver failure, in some cases fatal, that have been reported in both adult and pediatric patients who used this drug.

Notice of the warning was sent today in an alert from MedWatch, the FDA's safety information and adverse event reporting program.

The Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) has urged prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh to extend the income tax benefits offered for the pharma Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under section 10 B, the sunset clause, under the Income Tax Act to four more years till the year 2015 for the existing units, in an effort to support the pharmaceutical exporters in the country.

April 20, 2010 — Early vs late tracheotomy (6 - 8 days vs 13 - 15 days after mechanical ventilation) may not significantly lower the risk for ventilator-associated pneumonia in adult patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), according to the results of a randomized controlled trial reported in the April 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Pregnant women infected with the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus are at increased risk for death compared with others, but treatment within 2 days of symptom onset decreased this risk, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published in the April 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Celgene Corporation and Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc, a privately-held biotechnology company, announced the formation of a global strategic collaboration focused on targeting cancer metabolism. The goal of the collaboration is to discover, develop, and deliver novel disease-altering therapies in oncology based on the transformational science of Agios' innovative cancer metabolism research platform. This platform is based on the concept that targeting key metabolic enzymes unique to rapidly proliferating cancer cells can "starve" the cancer.

Scientists from the Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Health in North East England have identified a molecular pathway which reacts to cell damage and stems the cell’s ability to divide. The experts have used state-of-the-art laboratory techniques and sophisticated mathematical modelling to help crack the problem of cell ageing.

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, a deemed university under the Ministry of Commerce, as part of its research study on ‘India’s Export Potential of Ayush Products with SAARC and ASEAN Countries’, held a seminar of exporters of Ayush products in Chennai, yesterday.

The meeting will be held at the Seminar Hall of IMPCOPS at Thiruvanmiyur in the afternoon. IIFT has been commissioned to carry out the research study by the Department of Ayush.