Science Today

NEW DELHI: Drug makers importing medicines may soon have to pay the government up to five times more to register their products here and get their overseas manufacturing facilities audited by the Indian regulator. The move aims to increase domestic manufacturing of medicines.    After a meeting between the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization and industry stakeholders in August, the ministry is once again mulling a hike in fees for several regulatory submissions for foreign drug makers, said two senior health ministry officials. A similar move was suggested in December 2015 as well.   “All stakeholders present agreed, in principle, to a hike in fees (as per the 2015 draft notification),” stated a document that ET has viewed.   “Members also stressed (the need) to revise fees periodically after three years, instead of 15 years. The proposal for amendment in rules is under process.” Revision of fees is necessary, as rates have not been updated for more tha...

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The health ministry has banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of 328 fixed dose combinations (FDCs) of drugs with immediate effect and restricted another six. This brings to an end a protracted legal  battle between manufacturers of these combination drugs and the ministry, which has been working since 2016 to get these “irrational” and “unsafe” drugs banned. Among the roughly 6,000 brands estimated to be affected by the ban are popular drugs like the painkiller Saridon, the skin cream Panderm, combination diabetes drug Gluconorm PG, antibiotic Lupidiclox and antibacterial Taxim AZ. The government had banned 344 FDCs on March 10, 2016 and later added five more to this list. However, manufacturers of these drugs contested the ban in various high courts and the Supreme Court. The SC on December 15, 2017 asked for the matter to be examined by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board. DTAB concluded in its report that there was no therapeutic justification f...

Discovery could enable development of new anti-viral therapies Date:September 10, 2018 Source:University of Cambridge Summary:Scientists have developed a new technique that can determine how viruses interact with a host's own RNA. As well as providing insight into how viruses direct the host cell to create new virus particles, this technique could allow researchers to design artificial molecules capable of blocking the virus replication process and preventing the virus spreading. RNA viruses are often considered to present the highest threat for triggering a worldwide pandemic. In the absence of effective and available vaccines or medicines, the diseases caused by RNA viruses such as Ebola virus, Zika virus and SARS coronavirus, exert a significant public health impact, while viruses attacking swine cause heavy losses to the pig farming industry. Meanwhile new RNA viruses continue to emerge, due to their rapid evolution. RNA viruses are so-called because they use RNA instead o...