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Orchid Pharma's newly-formed antimicrobial solutions division is targeting a turnover of up to Rs 300 crore in the next three years with about 250 strong salespeople onboard while combating the challenge of antimicrobial resistance in India, according to a top company official. Orchid AMS (Antimicrobial Solutions) is targeting to partner with around 2,500-3,000 hospitals and healthcare institutions in the next two to three years to implement effective antimicrobial stewardship programmes (AMSPs). Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest healthcare challenges beyond the hospitals as medications are available easily without prescriptions and antibiotics are also coming in through poultry, fish and through crops, Rajnish Rohatgi, CEO, Orchid AMS, a division of Orchid Pharma, told PTI. "This is a humongous issue. We felt that not only from a business aspect of creating a difference but it provides us a motivating purpose beyond business and to give back to society in our own way,
Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday said there will be no increase in prices of essential medicines this fiscal year in view of negligible growth in wholesale price-based inflation. In an interaction with PTI editors at the news agency's headquarters here, Mandaviya -- the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister -- assured that this is "Modiji's guarantee". When asked about reports and speculations of hike in rates of essential drugs, he said, "It is absolutely incorrect. There will be no increase in the price of medicines". The minister said the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which is under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, annually revises the ceiling prices of scheduled medicines on the basis of Wholesale Price Index (WPI). "NPPA monitors and fixes the prices of essential medicines based on WPI," Mandaviya said. When inflation rises, it leads to a hike in prices and when it goes down, the prices come down, the minister said. "This year the ..
Merck is suing the federal government over a plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices, calling the programme a sham equivalent to extortion. The drugmaker is seeking to halt the programme, which was laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act and is expected to save taxpayers billions of dollars in the coming years. Merck said in a complaint filed Tuesday that the programme does not involve genuine negotiation. Instead, it said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selects drugs to be included and then dictates the price, threatening drugmakers with a ruinous daily excise tax if they decline to agree. It is tantamount to extortion, the drugmaker said in the complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The drugmaker added that it expects its diabetes treatment Januvia to be part of the IRA's scheme starting later this year. Representatives of the federal agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press