February 08, 2009

Why is the premier drug regulatory authority in India interested in curbing its own powers by becoming subservient to the decisions of the Patent office. Is this a result of influence that is being exerted by drug MNCs on the DCGI’s office?

Amit Sengupta

THE German Multinational company, Bayer, had been granted a patent for its drug, Sorafenib tosylate (marketed as Nexavar by the company), in India a few months back. The drug is used for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (a type of cancer of the kidneys) and for treating advanced cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (a form of liver cancer). It is also being investigated for use in other forms of cancer.

Prabir Purkayastha

THERE are some defining moments in the history of science. Cracking the atom, the first steps on the moon are such defining moments. Reading the book of life, the human genome is another such moment. It was unthinkable that the genetic code consisting of 3 billion letters would be read within ten years of starting of the human genome project. Last July, it was done by two groups of scientists – one of which is the publicly funded Human Genome Project spanning 20 laboratories in six countries and the other, a private company Celera Genomics, headed by the Craig Venter. Both these groups finished a preliminary genome sequence in July last year and published separately their results last week on the birth anniversary of Charles Darwin, one in Nature (15 February) and the other in Science (16 February). The two accounts are remarkably similar confirming that the rough draft of the genomic sequence is now ready even if the final corrected version takes a little more time.