Medicines Financial News

₹13,000 crore leap into the future of healthcare—shifting from mass-produced generics to cutting-edge “living medicines” grown from cells, alongside advanced chemicals.With blockbuster drug patents set to expire globally, Mint explains how the country plans to tap a $300 billion biologics opportunity.To handle the work of growing medicines from living cells, India plans to build three new national research institutes and upgrade seven existing ones, including major centres in Mohali, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.These centres will focus on training a specialized workforce to manage the high level of scientific skill required. Since making medicines from living organisms is much more difficult than a standard pill, this expertise is essential for everything from laboratory research to high-tech factory management and safety checks.India plans to set up 1,000 testing sites nationwide to rigorously evaluate safety and effectiveness.This is essential because biologics are fundamentally different from traditional drugs.

The simultaneous patent expiry of Ozempic’s active ingredient in China and India on Friday was a watershed moment. Until now, these weight-loss drugs have been available largely to people with means. The launch of affordable generic versions will be a levelling force in healthcare, with global consequences.That’s because the world’s two most-populous countries aren’t just consumers.

drug carries a warning that it must be administered only under the supervision of an endocrinologist to ensure that complex metabolic side-effects are properly regulated. There is a concern that if other medical professionals begin prescribing it, they may not be able to properly manage its side-effects,” one of the two officials cited above said, requesting anonymity.According to a Lancet study, India could have the world's second-highest obesity burden by 2035, with 449 million overweight and obese people by 2050, when a third of the country's population will be obese.

Mint.The development is significant for India’s pharmaceutical market, valued at $50 billion and largely dominated by allopathic medicines. By comparison, the homeopathy segment is worth around $847 million.A proposal from the Ayush ministry was discussed last month by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to promote homeopathy medicines across the country.

New Delhi: As the war in West Asia disrupts global trade flows, the Indian government has launched a sweeping audit of critical supply chains to map vulnerabilities and reduce import dependence, according to three government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.The exercise, which covers sectors such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, fertilizers and textiles, comes amid concerns that supply shocks could derail India’s growth trajectory.“The plan is to identify structural vulnerabilities in India’s industrial landscape, with a focus on supply chain dependencies and manufacturing capabilities,” the first official cited above said on condition of anonymity.A detailed government questionnaire circulated by the commerce ministry’s supply chain division—reviewed by Mint—to key stakeholders has asked firms to disclose granular data on import dependence, covering specific items, source countries, reliance on foreign suppliers, and whether key inputs are “irreplaceable or non-substitutable”.The questionnaire also seeks production metrics such as HSN-coded output, domestic and export turnover, and constraints to scale, including technology licensing barriers and infrastructure gaps.

Mint.“The acquisition was strategic in nature for us and they bring their partnerships on the procurement side of running warehouse management and the serviceability of an order that is coming from rural India," said Mohapatra.While the company declined to comment on the financial details of the transaction, it said that it had not raised additional funding to finance the acquisition and that it was done through the company's existing funds.The acquisition brings Saveo's 10,000 platform partners across Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu into CureBay's network of 190 clinics.Most of the integrations of Saveo's pharma distribution business into CureBay have already been completed. “In a few of our markets, we are already hitting the market with the combined power of both the organizations and talent," said Mohapatra.India's rural healthcare market is fragmented with multiple models, including remote patient monitoring, mobile hospitals and more.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A mock job advertisement that has done the rounds recently calls for a “killswitch engineer" for OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. The description requires the successful applicant to stand by servers all day and unplug them “if this thing turns on us".

The government has mandated a three-month buffer stock of medicines under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), which covers 4.2 million beneficiaries across 81 cities, in a move aimed at tackling recurring shortages and potentially boosting medicine sales while also keeping an eye on quality, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.The policy was approved for adoption 15 January 2026. The CGHS Directorate is currently rolling out operational guidelines and updating its digital systems to facilitate real-time tracking and buffer stock management.The health and family welfare ministry's move comes in the backdrop of a growing number of complaints regarding medicine shortages and delayed service; with the Centre framing a comprehensive Drug Procurement Policy for the marquee health scheme.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: In a move to enhance transparency and curb corruption in India’s pharmaceutical regulatory process, the Union government is working on a plan to overhaul drug sampling and testing procedures, according to two officials and documents reviewed by Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Imagine you’re in your late 60s and are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. You start planning the rest of your life: telling your spouse you may eventually become incapacitated; looking into long-term memory care; checking off as many bucket list items as you can.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Once in a while, a book comes along that articulates exactly what you have been thinking for years. Why Personal Finance is Broken and How to Fix It by John Campbell and Tarun Ramadorai, two distinguished academics with deep knowledge of both Western and Indian financial systems, is precisely such a book.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The White House on Thursday launched its drug-pricing website, dubbed TrumpRx, the culmination of efforts by the administration to bring down pharmaceutical costs for some consumers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India plans to impose anti-dumping duties on ethambutol hydrochloride—a critical input used in tuberculosis (TB) medicines—to curb cheap imports from China and Thailand, according to a government order reviewed by Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. In a bid to stem the alarming opioid crisis, India's apex drug regulator plans an overhaul of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to sharply raise punishments and fines that would deter illegal diversion of habit-forming pharmaceutical opioids, according to two government officials in the know and documents reviewed by Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The annual Padma awards list offers a useful peek into India’s evolution from a newly independent nation in the 1950s to a country that, in the 21st century, increasingly celebrates entrepreneurs alongside artistes and cultural icons. Over the decades, however, scientists and doctors who helped drive modern India’s innovation have steadily lost ground, with a shrinking presence among awardees.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Americans pay about three times what other wealthy nations do for branded prescription drugs. For years, policymakers have tried to fix this by cutting U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s largest drugmaker Sun Pharma is reportedly bidding for American pharmaceutical company Organon in a deal that could potentially be worth $10 billion, which would make it the largest overseas acquisition by an Indian pharma company. The drugmaker has secured $10–14 billion in temporary ‘bridge loans’ to fund the move.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: State drug regulators in India have launched a massive crackdown and issued urgent public health alerts to stop the use of paediatric cough syrup Almont-Kid after samples from a specific batch were found to contain life-threatening contaminants, according to three government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. On 7-8 January, OpenAI rolled out two healthcare products: ChatGPT Health for users and ChatGPT for Healthcare, for organizations in the industry. While ChatGPT Health is an extension of the existing chatbot, offering a space dedicated for health, the latter aims to automate workflows for healthcare organizations, a niche where Indian healthtech firms have attracted investor interest.

Mint.The proposed change aims to build a comprehensive database of bulk drug traders, improve traceability of imported raw materials, over 70% of which come from China, and allow regulators to quickly identify and hold accountable specific dealers involved in the supply of substandard inputs in India’s $50-billion pharmaceutical market.The new mechanism would dismantle the umbrella approach in the current common licensing system for raw materials and finished medicines, give the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) a long-missing registry of nearly 1.2 million bulk drug traders, and significantly strengthen traceability and accountability in the country's pharmaceutical market.The government move comes in the backdrop of India’s reputation as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’ taking a hit due to deaths of children in Uzbekistan, Gambia, Cameroon and India linked to cough syrups manufactured by Indian firms.As per the officials, a draft notification is in the works for this separate licensing regime for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including bulk drugs and advanced intermediates, which were valued at approximately $3.5 billion in FY25.While the total value for India's total pharmaceutical-related imports—including finished products—for FY24 was approximately $8.2 billion, bulk drugs remain the dominant share of this inflow data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics and commerce ministry shows.India’s API market is projected to reach $38.13 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 8.50% from 2025 to 2034, according to reports by research firms like Market Research Future.“The lack of transparency in the raw material supply chain was highlighted by recent reports of cough syrups

₹500 crore in revenue and forming the backbone of its sales—such as Dabur Red Paste, Dabur Amla hair oil, Dabur Honey and Chyawanprash, are widely perceived as “boomer brands,” Mahasuar said.“Gen Z is very particular about ingredients, and look and feel—and most importantly they want visible results,” he told Mint. “Companies in skin care and hair care have been struggling over the last three to four years.