Government has stopped advertising of ECP drug

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Category: Industry Policies

Government of India had sent advisory notice to all pharma companies to stop advertising of emergency contraceptive pills. It has stated that drug advertisement is not permitted under the existing rule. Currently, ECP can be bought over the counter without a prescription. Morepen, Piramal Healthcare and Mankind are some pharma companies produce emergency contraceptive pills in India.

Indian government sets up Rs. 100 billion corpus for drug discovery

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Category: Industry Policies

In an effort to promote India as a hub for new drug development activities, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) has proposed to set up a Rs. 100 billion corpus to promote R&D. Its initial target will be to raise Rs.30 billion by 2012 under the public-private partnership model(PPP).  According to a white paper, by department of pharmaceuticals India needs to take pro-active four steps which are :- build infrastructure for talent and research, encourage public private partnerships in infrastructure development, provide financial incentives to encourage innovation and providing a favourable regulatory environment.

Kerala Govt restricts proliferation of medical shops

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Category: Industry Policies

Kerala, the biggest pharma retail market in the country worth around Rs.15000 million has reached saturation level and government feels that any new addition may lead to unhealthy unethical practices. The Chemists and Druggist Association has welcomed the move. It has suggested limits of 100 meters range in non-urban limits and 50 meter range for city limits. However, these limits won’t apply to hospital pharmacies and government run pharmacies/fair price shops like Neeti and Maveli. Currently, ban is on for new medical shops but courts may strike down as it has happened earlier.

CDSCO plans control of clinical drug trials

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Category: Industry Policies

Central Drug Standard Control Organisation is planning to regularize the booming clinical trials market. The number of clinical trials conducted in India has grown from 170 in 2006 to 350 by 2008 and in may touch a new high this year. Now, the regulator has asked the clinical research organizations to register with the from June 2009 and improving its infrastructure and system to bring transparency and ethical testing. It also plans to record volunteers through biometric finger printing system. It is currently, drafting standard operating procedures and other quality guiders for clinical trials. India is one of the few country where, clinical trial can be conducted at low cost, due to large patient pool and large number of volunteers.