Pharma News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved supplemental applications for Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Harvoni (ledipasvir and sofosbuvir) to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) in children ages 12 to 17. Harvoni and Sovaldi were previously approved to treat HCV in adults.

Parliament passed the bill to ensure equal rights for people living with HIV and AIDS in treatment, employment and admissions to educational institutions.

Intellia Therapeutics a leading genome editing company focused on the development of potentially curative therapeutics using CRISPR technology, announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has decided to grant a patent broadly covering the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology. The patent includes claims covering compositions of the widely adopted CRISPR single guide RNA technology for use in any non-cellular and cellular setting, including eukaryotic cells such as human or mammalian cells, as well as for use in human therapeutics.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited announced a strategic collaboration with NuBiyota LLC for the development of Microbial Ecosystem Therapeutic products for gastroenterology (GI) indications with a high unmet medical need.

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The national drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) unearthed a total of 613 cases of non-compliance of its notified price ceilings of various drugs by companies.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of cancer and death from cancer. In a move to reduce the consumption of tobacco products, the Ministry of Health sought to tax all these products, including bidis, at 28% and impose a higher rate under the new GST regime.

In order to promote competition between public hospitals, Niti Aayog decided to classify district hospitals on the basis of their performance on health indicators. There are about 700 district hospitals across the country to provide secondary health services to people.

In India, oncology treatment generally covers lakhs, particularly with certain lung, prostate and breast cancer drugs evaluated on a lakh per dose in some cases. Regulatory systems, diagnosis, treatment infrastructure and funding mechanisms must be tailored to the needs of patients.

The depression affects 86 million people in the region of Southeast Asia, said WHO, praising India for recently passing the bill on mental health care and called on nations to the quality of mental health services. This year's World Health Day focuses on depression, a persistent ailment, or a loss of interest or pleasure in things usually appreciated.

The government plans to examine current drug pricing controls to make medicines more affordable, while undertaking a "reengineering" of the NPPA price regulator to provide greater transparency with respect to industry claims Of the arbitrary implementation of the policy.  It established a panel of joint Secretaries of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Secretary of the NPPA and the India Comptroller General for Drugs (DGCI) , Among others, to recommend measures to make medicines more affordable.