
Background
1. The mandate of the Department is to promote pharmaceutical industry and to ensure availability of drugs at affordable price.
As demand for medical supplies soars worldwide in the fight against Covid-19, there is a parallel risk of substandard and counterfeit medicines in the global market. With India being one of the world's largest producers of medical supplies, there is an urgent need to bring in strong anti-counterfeiting measures which will be addressed at Messe Frankfurt’s upcoming conference - Pharmasafe India 2020.

The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorisation for DARZALEX®? (daratumumab) subcutaneous (SC) formulation for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Daratumumab SC is administered as a fixed dose, which significantly reduces treatment time, from hours to approximately three to five minutes, when compared to daratumumab intravenous (IV) formulation. In addition, only the first dose of daratumumab SC needs to be administered in an environment where resuscitation facilities are available. The approval applies to all current daratumumab indications in frontline and relapsed/refractory settings, and patients currently on daratumumab IV can switch to the SC formulation should they choose to.

Novartis announced that full results from the Phase IIIb ARGON study were published online in Respiratory Medicine. These results show that once-daily treatment with single inhaler, high- and medium-dose Enerzair® Breezhaler® (QVM149; indacaterol acetate, glycopyrronium bromide and mometasone furoate [IND/GLY/MF]) demonstrated non-inferiority to a free combination of twice-daily, high-dose salmeterol xinafoate/fluticasone propionate (Sal/Flu) plus once-daily tiotropium (Tio), delivered in two different devices, in improving quality of life in people with uncontrolled asthma. Among secondary analyses, improvements in lung function, asthma control, health status, and reductions in moderate exacerbations were observed with high-dose once-daily IND/GLY/MF compared to high-dose Sal/Flu plus Tio.