Bihar state, in the northeast of India, is an epicentre of kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis), a neglected tropical disease responsible for 50,000 deaths every year worldwide. Bihar’s Ministry of Health has declared 15 March ‘Kala Azar Day’ to increase awareness of the disease which, if left...
Groundbreaking move sets precedent for overcoming drug price barriers In a landmark case, the Indian Patent Office has issued the first-ever compulsory licence in India to a generic drug manufacturer. This effectively ends German pharmaceutical company Bayer’s monopoly in India on the drug...
A Novartis win could severely restrict production of affordable medicines in India As shareholders of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis meet on Feburary 23 in Basel, Switzerland, the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on shareholders to urge...
In the forests of central India, Maoist rebels called Naxalites are fighting government forces to control great swathes of the interior. People living in dozens of tribal villages are caught up in the conflict, unable to reach the Health Ministry’s clinics in Chhattisgarh state. Dr. Rebecca...
Visceral leishmaniasis is known worldwide as kala azar. Since 2007 Médecins Sans Frontières（MSF） is implementing a kala azar diagnostic and treatment project in Bihar state, northern India. It is ten in the morning and several people are already waiting at the lab doors to be tested for kala azar...
Novartis will go before the Indian Supreme Court tomorrow in the latest attempt by the Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company to undermine a key public health safeguard in Indian patent law specifically designed to prevent drug companies from abusively patenting known medicines. If successful,...
One evening in early March, 1500 families in the Garib Nagar slum in Mumbai saw everything they own go up in flames when a devastating fire ripped through their neighbourhood. MSF assisted the affected population the following week by distributing 4800 emergency kits to help fulfill the most...
Latest round of negotiations on sensitive intellectual property issues resumes tomorrow India should resist pressure from the European Union to accept, as part of a free trade agreement, harmful provisions that will have a major negative impact on access to affordable medicines, the international...
The European Union is pursuing a free trade agreement with India which will restrict Indian drug producers from making affordable generic medicines used to treat people across the developing world. In October 2010, MSF launched a campaign called ‘Europe! Hands Off Our Medicines,’ with the goal of...
Europe Seeking to Undermine India’s Pro-public Health Law As negotiations on an EU-India free trade agreement (FTA) resume in Brussels today, international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling on Europe’s highest trade official to halt actions that will...
