Soumya Swaminathan

See the following -

"Industry Will Not Support Open-Ended Science, So Govt Must"

Aradhna Wal | CNN-News18 | December 20, 2016

On December 11, News18 exposed how India’s clinical trials and drug discovery process is skewed towards diseases like cancer while ignoring the top killers of the country like TB, diarrhea and Kala Azar. Responding to that, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) told News18 there was a need to support indigenous research in India. In this interview to News18’s Aradhna Wal, Dr Swaminathan says India needs a 10-year vision on drug research...

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Antibiotics: Medical City’s Unhealthy Strain

Pushpa Narayan | The Times of India | October 9, 2014

...Chennai has been at the center of recent controversies over the use of antibiotics. The seminal 2010 Lancet paper that identified the emergence of superbugs resistant to a variety of antibiotics found that the superbugs came from Chennai and Hyderabad...

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New Path for Drug Development

Kalyan Ray | Deccan Herald | May 22, 2017

The 1960s was a decade that witnessed humans setting foot on the moon and a bloody war that changed the history. In between these events, a drug that would be the mainstay for doctors for decades to fight a smart bug, was born. Rifampicin was the last novel class of antibiotics against Mycobacterium tuberculosis till the arrival of bedaquiline at the fag end of 2012. Discovered in 1965, Rifampicin was marketed in Italy in 1968 and was approved by the US regulatory body in 1971...

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TB Drug Project Gets a Lease of Life

Jacob Koshy | The Hindu | December 20, 2016

There is also interest from BRICS countries to commit funds for research, says ICMR chief Read More »

‘Superbugs’ Kill India’s Babies And Pose An Overseas Threat

Gardiner Harris | The New York Times | December 3, 2014

A deadly epidemic that could have global implications is quietly sweeping India, and among its many victims are tens of thousands of newborns dying because once-miraculous cures no longer work.  These infants are born with bacterial infections that are resistant to most known antibiotics, and more than 58,000 died last year as a result, a recent study found...

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