Harbinder Virdi

I am not sure about SRK’s remark for bringing peace to IPL imbroglio. But where was Shiv Sena with its neonate MNS, when 26/11 unfortunately happened??? They all were hiding behind the secure walls of their villas. It were the North Indians (NSG commandos flew from New Delhi), who bravely confronted the perpetrators of hatred and brought costly peace to Mumbai.   Now they proudly talk about their Nationalism or should I say regional discrimination. And cowardly (which they call bravery) they physically confront these North Indians on whom their livelihood is dependent in some way or other.   May peace be to Mumbai esp. on these trivial issues which divide people based on imaginary lines on the globe.    

The bivalent vaccine (bOPV) is being introduced in the country for the first time in Bihar from tomorrow which is National Immunization Day (NID) for pulse polio campaign. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil launched the NID by administering polio drops to ten babies at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi today.   Speaking on the occasion the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the bivalent vaccine will also be introduced in Uttar Pradesh from next round. About 25 lakh kids will get the new drops. Overall 170 million kids are likely to be immunized in this round of NID.      There are three strains of wild polio virus, viz P1, P2 & P3. Type 2 wild polio virus (P2) has been eliminated in the year 1999. Efforts are being made to eradicate P1 and P3 also. As P1 is the more virulent type of the two, the current strategy is to eliminate it first while keeping P3 under control. Once P1 is eradicated, efforts to eradicate P3 will be made....

Biovel Lifesciences, a bio pharmaceutical start-up venture, is all set to be acquired by Ranbaxy. The final deal is yet to be inked and is expected to be over by this weekend. The value of the deal could be around Rs 50 crore, stated sources close to the development. This is for the second time that Ranbaxy is acquiring a unit in South. The company had earlier acquired a majority stake in Genotech in 2009.

AkaRx Inc., a privately held drug development company ("AkaRx") announced today the closure of its acquisition by Eisai Inc. ("Eisai") of Woodcliff Lake, NJ for $255 Million. With today's closing, AkaRx becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eisai, the US subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd. The founding team of AkaRx has since founded a second company, Drais Pharmaceuticals Inc. that like AkaRx, is backed by venture capital investors InterWest Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures. The acquisition of AkaRx marks the culmination of a development license agreement and a deferred merger agreement, both of which were originally signed between AkaRx and MGI PHARMA INC. ("MGI") in August 2007. In 2008 Eisai acquired MGI, which included the option to acquire AkaRx and AKR-501. During the option period, MGI, and then Eisai, managed and funded the development of AkaRx's lead compound, AKR-501. AKR-501 is a pharmacological agonist of the thrombopoietin r...

Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla is negotiating with multinational and generic drug companies including GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, a UK-based pharmaceutical company, and Teva, an Israeli pharmaceutical company, to provide generic drugs, according to Reuters. Cipla was previously in talks with numerous pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer to supply generic drugs. Cipla said it was in talks with at least two Japanese companies for in-licensing agreements, which help foreign companies to sell their products through the company. Cipla is reportedly planning to launch about 50 to 100 different products in 2010, including veterinary medicines and agrochemicals. Reuters has quoted, Yusuf Hamied, managing director of Cipla, as saying: "Cipla has been in negotiations with GSK for six months. It may be specifically for one or two products - it is not a down-the-line drug deal. There was 'not a chance' that Cipla was in talks to sell a stake to a partner company." ...

London's Royal Free Hospital used nanotechnology to develop the small bypass graft from a polymer material.   The material enables the graft to mimic the natural pulsing of human blood vessels, which enables them to deliver nutrients to the body's tissues.   The ultimate aim is to use the graft in coronary artery and lower-limb arterial surgery, which doctors say could reduce amputations and heart attacks.   If the trials - funded by a grant of £500,000 - are successful, the device could potentially help thousands of patients with vascular disease. The wall of the artery is designed to be able to withstand blood pressure throughout a person's lifetime and is normally very strong.   If it is damaged by disease such as hardening of the arteries, the artery can become blocked or in some patients the wall can weaken, becoming an aneurysm, and it may rupture.   The new artificial artery has been designed to mimic the natural version as closely...