SRIDHAR Vembu, known for the Zoho software and Arattai social media platforms which are being pushed by the ruling dispensation, is also known for his back-to-the-future traditionalist ideas.He recently made the controversial and unsubstantiated claim that childhood vaccines lead to autism. His claim, based on an unreviewed report from the McCullough Foundation, have understandably sparked controversy since  it is clearly based on false information and ignores decades of thorough scientific research that unequivocally shows that vaccines are efficacious, safe and do not cause autism.

ON October 6, the announcement of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine brought three scientists who had discovered the mechanism of immune system restraint to the attention of the world. Shimon Sakaguchi of Japan, along with Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States, shared the award. Their findings identified a group of guardian cells that maintain peace within the body, preventing our immune system from attacking our own cells.

As of 5 OctoberTwenty children (as of 8th Oct) have died in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and 3 in Rajasthan, due to diethylene glycol (DEG) contamination in cough syrup. In the Chhindwara district of MP, 16 children lost their lives after being given cough syrup Coldrif, manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceuticals.

THE Swiss multinational Novartis and the Indian Patent Office are in the news again, as is Section 3(d) of India's Patent Act. Under the 3(d) provision, the Patent Office struck down the Novartis patent on Vymada, a heart failure drug, for lacking either novelty or an inventive step. Vymada, internationally marketed as Entresto, is a combination of two drugs: sacubitril and valsartan, and Novartis was claiming that by mixing the two, it created a "supramolecular complex", a claim rejected by the Indian Patent Office.

FLOODING due to heavy rainfall in major urban centres, which used to be witnessed once in a while, has of late become commonplace, occurring almost annually.