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Pfizer scraps $350 m pact with Biocon on insulin products
Ruling on Bayer opens door for cheaper drugs
Yahoo sues Facebook for infringing 10 patents
‘Create favourable environment to draw youth to farming’
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CLB asks Unitech to buy out Telenor stake or exit
Kingfisher flight schedules being sorted out: Mallya
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Pfizer scraps $350 m pact with Biocon on insulin products
Mumbai, March 13 The companies cited "individual priorities" as the reason for the split, which immediately ends a relationship that stood to earn Biocon hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties. "The development is definitely negative for Biocon's insulin sales as it will have to look for new partners," said Bino Pathiparampil, an analyst at Mumbai brokerage IIFL. "This is mainly because of strategy confusion...Pfizer's business strategy has been changing over the last two to three years, which probably has led to this development." Biocon will retain payments already received from Pfizer, Biocon's chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw told Reuters after the companies announced the split on Tuesday. "(We) will receive additional amounts as settlement from escrow," she said, without providing details. Pfizer made upfront payments of $200 million to Biocon and the Indian drugmaker was eligible to receive additional development and regulatory milestone payments of up to $150 million in addition to royalties. "We’re tweaking down our estimates for Biocon for fiscal 2013 after this news, for sure," said Siddhant Khandekar, an analyst at ICICI Direct in Mumbai. "We expect a Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 hit on their earnings per share, from Rs 20.4 down to around Rs 18.4." Deutsche Bank cut its target price for Biocon shares by 9% to Rs 215 after Pfizer's exit, citing increased risk for the Indian drugmaker. Biocon's shares fell more than 7% in early trading after the split was announced. At 1:30 p.m. (0800 GMT), the stock was down 5.16% at Rs 253.75. The overall market was up 1.2%. “INDIVIDUAL PRIORITIES”: The Biocon-Pfizer divorce is the latest blow for relations between Indian drugmakers and their global counterparts and comes a day after Germany's Bayer lost a landmark ruling in India, forcing it to grant a compulsory licence for its cancer treatment Nexavar to Natco Pharma. The Bayer ruling is likely to unnerve international pharmaceutical companies that see emerging markets like India as a major growth opportunity, but remain worried about intellectual property protection in such countries. Biocon said in November it was searching for a global partner for its experimental oral insulin pill, which if commercialized, could have entered the market as a direct competitor to the Pfizer-marketed drugs. — Reuters |
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Ruling on Bayer opens door for cheaper drugs
Mumbai, March 13 On Monday, the Indian Patent Office effectively ended Bayer's monopoly for its Nexavar drug and issued its first-ever compulsory license allowing local generic maker Natco Pharma to make and sell the drug cheaply in India. It is only the second time a nation has issued a compulsory license for a cancer drug after Thailand did so on four drugs between 2006 and 2008, also on affordability grounds. Thailand also issued licenses for HIV/AIDS and heart disease treatments. "This could well be the first of many compulsory rulings here," said Gopakumar G. Nair, head of patent law firm Gopakumar Nair Associates and former president of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association. "Global pharmaceutical manufacturers are likely to be worried as a result ... given that the wording in India's Patent Act that had been amended from 'reasonably priced' to 'reasonably affordable priced' has come into play now." The new wording is seen as a lower threshold for compulsory licenses, which can be issued under world trade rules by nations that deem major life-saving drugs to be too costly. The licenses allow them to authorise the local manufacture or importation of much cheaper, generic versions. Global drugmakers see emerging markets such as India as key growth opportunities, but remain concerned over intellectual property protection. Nair said HIV-related medicines were likely to be the most at risk by compulsory licenses in the future. Currently, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline sell a modern HIV/AIDS drug known as Selzentry through their joint venture firm ViiV Healthcare. The treatment costs more than Rs 60,000 for one month's dosage in India. Bayer's Nexavar cancer drug costs around $5,500 a month in India, making it "not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price", the patent office ruled. A provision of the Indian Patents Act allows for a compulsory license to be awarded after three years of the grant of patent on drugs that are deemed to be too costly. MORE TO COME? Other patent rulings are imminent. A long-running case involving the granting of an Indian patent for Swiss drugmaker Novartis' cancer drug Glivec is expected to be heard in the Supreme Court this month. The case does not involve the issue of compulsory license, but it has also pitted advocates of free trade and intellectual property rights against pro-generics campaigners. — Reuters |
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Yahoo sues Facebook for infringing 10 patents
San Francisco, March 13 The lawsuit, filed in a San Jose, Calif. federal court on Monday, marks a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept up the smartphone and tablet sectors and high-tech stalwarts such as Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. Yahoo's patent lawsuit follows Facebook's announcement of plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at about $100 billion. Facebook spokesman Jonathan Thaw said Facebook learned of the lawsuit through the media. "We're disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation," he said. In a statement, Yahoo said it is confident it will prevail. — Reuters |
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‘Create favourable environment to draw youth to farming’
Rabat, Morocco: In his opening remarks, noted agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan, known as the "Father of the Green Revolution in India", who was co-chair of the inaugural session, remarked that food security means not only availability of nutritious food at affordable prices to everyone but also clean drinking water for a healthy living. He pointed out that after generation of knowledge and technology, its transfer to appropriate people was essential. In addition to transfer of technology, transformation of technology was needed, he added. Responding to the question ‘Which areas to focus on first’, Prof. Swaminathan said investment in postharvest technology was most important after production of food. He also dwelled on the empowerment of women and youth, saying “we must harness the demographic dividend.” He pointed out youth must be attracted to agriculture by making it not only profitable but also intellectually satisfying. He exhorted the world to provide adequate facilities to farmers and help build their self-esteem. “Agriculture needs to be promoted as a business”, he added. Manjit Singh Kang, former vice chancellor of Punjab Agriculture University, pointed out that from the standpoint of food, the world must be regarded as one civilization and that food was most essential to maintain peace, harmony, and political stability. He said degradation of soil, inappropriate management of water, and the use of practices that have negative effects on the climate might increase food security in the short run but would decrease output over time and threaten the survival of future generations and that this was the case in the “green revolution” states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. To achieve sustainable food security natural resources (soil and water) must be protected, he stressed. Dr. Kang presented a list of threats to global food security. He placed increasing population, decreasing global arable land availability, and a lack of “Improper and inadequate grain storage results in 5 to 10% losses of stored grains worldwide due to moulds and insects; the losses can exceed 50% when those caused by rodents and birds are included. Thus, poor storage threatens food security”, he stated. |
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CLB asks Unitech to buy out Telenor stake or exit
New Delhi, March 13 Counsel representing Unitech sought time for discussing the matter with the company management. CLB, a quasi-judiciary body that rules on corporate matters, asked Unitech to inform its decision by 10.30 hours on March 19, the next date for hearing. On March 1, the CLB had returned the petitions of Telenor and Unitech on technical grounds and over certain deficiencies in filing. — PTI |
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Kingfisher flight schedules being sorted out: Mallya
New Delhi, March 13 Earlier Ajit said banks could not be asked to give loans but “strict action” would be taken if the airlines compromised on safety due to cash crunch. According to him, the industry’s present financial crisis was “a passing phase” but strikes by different sections of employees, including pilots, disrupted the entire business”. With its flight schedules being hit due to agitation by employees to protest salary delays, Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya said the airline had spoken to the pilots and the matter was being sorted out. |
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