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.

CHINA’s rise in renewable energy is nothing short of breathtaking. Last year, it added more solar capacity in a single year than the United States has in its entire history. By 2023, Chinese wind farms could generate 450 gigawatts - double that of the European Union, and equal to India’s entire power system across all fuels. 40 per cent of all cars sold in China in 2024 were electric.

THE mainstream and online media, and social media in particular, have been abuzz with controversy and comments from the vehicle-owning or driving public, experts and different sectional interest groups over the government’s roll out in Delhi and other cities of mandatory supply of petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol, that is EBP20 or E20, soon to be extended to the whole country.