• Cancer drug to be produced cheaply in India, as ruling breaks Bayer's monopoly

    Mahesh Kumar A / AP

    An Indian Pharmacologist examines the reaction of cytotoxic drugs on a mouse inside a containment facility of the Research and Development Centre of Natco Pharma Ltd. in Hyderabad, India, on March 13. India effectively ended Bayer's monopoly on a patented cancer drug Monday, licensing a much cheaper generic under a unique law aimed at keeping costs affordable. In a decision likely to upset Western pharmaceuticals, the patent office approved Natco Pharma Ltd.'s application to produce the kidney and liver cancer treatment sorefinib.

    Mahesh Kumar A / AP

    An Indian Pharmacologist removes mice from cages to study the reaction of cytotoxic drugs, inside a containment facility of the Research and Development Centre of Natco Pharma Ltd. in Hyderabad, India, on March 13.

    Reuters -- India's move to strip German drugmaker Bayer of its exclusive rights to a cancer drug has set a precedent that could extend to other treatments, including modern HIV/AIDS drugs, in a major blow to global pharmaceutical firms, experts say.

    On Monday, the Indian Patent Office effectively ended Bayer's monopoly for its Nexavar drug and issued its first-ever compulsory license allowing local generic maker Natco Pharma to make and sell the drug cheaply in India.

    It is only the second time a nation has issued a compulsory license for a cancer drug after Thailand did so on four drugs between 2006 and 2008, also on affordability grounds. Thailand also issued licenses for HIV/AIDS and heart disease treatments.

    Krishnendu Halder / Reuters

    A pharmacologist checks the toxic reaction on a swiss albino inside the bio safety cabinet at Natco Research Center in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, on March 13. India's move to strip German drugmaker Bayer of its exclusive rights to a cancer drug has set a precedent that could extend to other treatments, including modern HIV/AIDS drugs, in a major blow to global pharmaceutical firms, experts say. On Monday, the Indian Patent Office effectively ended Bayer's monopoly for its Nexavar drug and issued its first-ever compulsory license allowing local generic maker Natco Pharma to make and sell the drug cheaply in India.

    "This could well be the first of many compulsory rulings here," said Gopakumar G. Nair, head of patent law firm Gopakumar Nair Associates and former president of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association.

    "Global pharmaceutical manufacturers are likely to be worried as a result ... given that the wording in India's Patent Act that had been amended from 'reasonably priced' to 'reasonably affordable priced' has come into play now."

    Read the full story.

    Mahesh Kumar A / AP

    An Indian scientist works inside a laboratory of the Research and Development Centre of Natco Pharma Ltd. in Hyderabad, India, on March 13.

     

  • India's colorful Naga tribes rally for statehood

    Kevin Frayer / AP

    An ethnic Naga woman wearing traditional clothing participates in a rally, urging the Indian government to expedite the India-Naga political dialogue for a positive solution in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 25, 2012. India is offering wide autonomy to the Nagas though it has already rejected the demand of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland rebels' for an independent homeland in northeastern India bordering Myanmar, where most of the 2 million Nagas live. The Naga rebels began fighting more than 50 years ago, although a cease-fire has held since it was signed in 1997.

    Kevin Frayer / AP

    Ethnic Naga men wear traditional clothing and participate in a rally, urging the Indian government to expedite the India-Naga political dialogue for a positive solution in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 25.

    Kevin Frayer / AP

    Ethnic Naga women wear traditional clothing before the beginning of a rally urging the Indian government to expedite the India-Naga political dialogue for a positive solution, in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 25.

     

  • Anna Hazare: Starving for clean government

    Manish Swarup / AP

    Indian rights activist Anna Hazare waves to supporters from the back of a police van after he was detained Tuesday in New Delhi.

    By Kari Huus, NBC News

    Is he the new Mahatma Gandhi?

    Not quite, but Indian social activist Anna Hazare, who was arrested in India Tuesday, has adopted some of the same strategies to protest actions by the Indian government. The 73-year-old Hazare was detained as he was about to begin a hunger strike, sparking protest by supporters, according to numerous published reports. But he reportedly started his hunger strike anyway while in police custody after refusing release from prison, the Times of India posted.

    His campaign, and his arrest, will likely further weaken the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his ruling Congress Party, according to Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow at the U.S. nonprofit Heritage Foundation.

    “(Hazare) is influential, he has street cred,” Curtis said. “And he is leading the show in terms of calling the government to to account on the corruption issue.”

    The Singh government has been badly tainted by a series of high-profile corruption scandals. The country suffered international criticism when it became apparent that it was badly prepared to host the scheduled 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Dehli, an event that also was saddled with financial irregularities. The organizer was charged with corruption and fired.

    More recently, the sale of 122 telecommunications licenses erupted into a major scandal when it emerged that some licenses were issued to companies with no experience in the sector and sold at fire-sale prices, depriving the government of some $40 billion in revenue.

    “The feeling is that (the prime minister) turned a blind eye,” said Curtis. “That really made his reputation suffer.”

    After these scandals, parliament introduced a bill to strengthen the country’s anti-graft efforts. But Hazare, who has historically championed the poor in India, argued that the bill did not go far enough. In April, he went on a four-day hunger strike, drawing out thousands of people in support of his anti-graft crusade.  Like Gandhi, who moved the Indian masses with his peaceful protest for Indian independence back in the 1940s, Hazare cannot be easily ignored.

    The issue also has implications for U.S. relations with India. As Singh’s government weakens, it could also weaken U.S-Indian bilateral relations, as members of the prime ministers party who are not as enthusiastic about ties with Washington gain clout, Curtis said.

    Click here to follow Kari Huus on Facebook.

  • More than 100 pilgrims die in stampede at Indian festival

    Msnbc.com and news services

    IDUKKI, India -- A stampede of pilgrims returning from one of India's most popular Hindu festivals killed more than 100 people and injured 25 others in southern India Friday night, police said.

    The stampede was set off when a group of pilgrims in a jeep drove into a crowd of worshippers walking along a narrow path ina hilly forest as they returned from offering prayers at the Sabarimala shrine in the state of Kerala, said local police official Sanjay Kumar.

    State officials said the death toll could rise.

    "Sixty-four bodies have been recovered from the accident site. Seventy-five persons have been hospitalised with injuries. Most of them are in three hospitals," Kerala Home Minister Kodiuyeri Balakrishnan told AFP news agency.

    The annual two-month festival attracts millions of worshippers to the remote temple to the Hindu deity Ayyappan. The ceremony Friday marked the end of the festival, and an estimated 150,000 devotees were thought to have taken the narrow path out of the densely forested hills where the stampede took place, the Press Trust of India reported.

    Deadly stampedes are relatively common at temples in India, where large crowds -- sometimes hundreds of thousands of people -- gather in tiny areas with no safety measures or crowd control.

    In March, 63 people were killed when poor villagers scrambled for free food and clothing being given away at a ceremony at a temple in Uttar Pradesh. In 2008, more than 145 people died in a stampede at a remote Hindu temple at the foothills of the Himalayas.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  • India and Pakistan share ceremonial showdown

    By Sohel Uddin, NBC News producer

    Every evening at sunset, soldiers from Pakistan and India participate in an aggressive border closing ceremony. Struts, stamps and puffed-up chests characterize the antagonistic, swaggering half-century-old ceremony between the two nuclear neighbors.

    Pakistan Rangers and Indian Border Security Force troops in full dress uniform march up to their rivals on the Wagah border line in exaggerated goose-steps shouting loudly and then slam the border gates in each others faces.

    For the thousands of people who come daily to watch, the show is an entertaining - if jingoistic - choreographed dance. But some of the soldiers recently complained that the high goose-stepping was wrecking their knee joints and causing foot injuries.

    Politicians on both sides have considered toning down the ceremony, but will they? NBC's Sohel Uddin reports from the Wagah Border.

  • India's not-so-friendly Commonwealth Games

    Gurinder Osan / AP

    An Indian worker carries tiles for laying on a road divider in front of a banner depicting the Commonwealth Games mascot Shera on Friday. Frantic last-minute preparations were paying off, international sports officials said Friday, with armies of cleaners making progress at the fetid athletes' village and foreign teams announcing they planned to attend the troubled competition.

    NBC News's Jenny Wivell

    LONDON-Have you ever wondered why some countries play cricket while the U.S. plays baseball? Why some opt for rugby instead of American football?

    It all has to do with the Commonwealth – a collection of 54 sovereign states around the globe, all but two of which were former British colonies. As the British Empire faded these nations banded together in pursuit of common goals. And now, they regularly compete in rather a lot of quintessentially English sports.

    These so-called “Friendly Games,” though, aren’t so friendly this year.

    The opening of the Commonwealth Games in India’s New Delhi is just days away, but with the park still looking more like a building site than an international sports venue, several nations are threatening to pull out. Collapsing bridges, flooded basements and a dengue fever outbreak top the list of catastrophes.

    Imagine that same scenario just a few days before the start of the Olympics, because that’s what this is like for members of the Commonwealth. New Zealand, Canada and Scotland, to name a few, have so little confidence in this year's games set to start on Oct. 3 they haven’t even left home yet.

    With Queen Elizabeth II installed at the head of the Commonwealth family, Britain is usually proud of her longstanding association with India.

    And Indians around the world have had every reason to be proud, too, what with their homeland being hailed one of the fastest growing economic powers in the world.

    ‘I hope they fail’
    But the feeling now in London, home of many a leading Indian businessmen, is one of dismay and shame.

    “I am extremely embarrassed about this. India’s reputation will suffer,” Moni Varma, the founder of the multi-million dollar Veetee Food Group, told me. “If (India) manages to pull off the Games, and I don’t think it will, all we’ll get is a patch-up job.”

    “It’s been badly organized. It’s rife with corruption. India should admit it’s failed and call the whole thing off,” he said.

    Alpesh Patel, an asset manager of Indian origin, sounds distinctly lacking in patriotism.

    “I hope they fail. If they don’t pull this off there will be a massive public outcry and that’s what they need,” he told me. “The public sector in India is guilty of undue arrogance and complacency and the politicians need a wake-up call.”

    Not every member of India’s business diaspora is hanging their heads in shame, though.

    Dr Avtar Lit, the chief executive of the Sunrise Group, Britain’s largest asian broadcasting corporation, backs his birthplace to the hilt.

    “The games will be fantastic,” said the entrepreneur, who already has his ticket for the opening ceremony. “Things move very fast in India and there are armies of engineers, decorators and builders ready to transform the site. What takes the rest of the world 180 days to complete takes India five.”

    The competitors, at least, hope he’s right.

    With the Americans, the Russians and the Chinese not privy to this particularly medals party the prospect of gold vastly improves for the other athletes.

    Why apologize?
    So while some are hanging their heads in shame, others in the Indian community don’t feel they should apologize to fellow members of the Commonwealth for the parade of glitches leading up to the games.

    “India doesn’t feel it needs to give explanations to what it considers to be minor countries like New Zealand, Scotland and Wales,” Sunrise’s Lit says. “What we really care about is that England and Australia will be there.”

    One thing all the business leaders agree on though is that this won’t damage business relations in the long run. Varma even thinks it could be a good thing.

    “It brings India’s inadequacies to the fore and tells overseas investors there are problems with India’s infrastructure, but things which have been slowly improving will happen a lot faster now,” he said.

    As Patel says: “This whole affair reminds India and the rest of the world it has a long way to go. At the moment more money is being invested in the country than it can use, but the problem is the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few.”

    What of Dr Avtar Lit? Well he remains stoically determined. “The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and it will be alright on the opening night.”

    Let’s hope so because although the race is on you can’t help wondering if, even with a sprint finish, India’s first Commonwealth Games won’t make it past the post.