In Brief

61st pharmaceutical congress begins today
AHMEDABAD: Indian companies are lining up at the US FDA to buy the patents of the drugs,which will be off-patented by 2012. Dr B Suresh,president of the Pharmacy Council of India,said: “Thousands of drugs in the international market will go off-patent,which if picked up by the Indian companies,will cover a market share of US 3-5 billion dollars.” He was in Ahmedabad to announce the start of the 61st Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC),2009,from Friday. The three-day event is being held in Gujarat after a gap of 23 years. As many as 52 speakers,including 27 from foreign countries,will discuss on these topics. The event will also house an exhibition where 282 participant companies from Brazil,Jordan,the US,Dubai,Japan,Korea,China and Italy will display their products and services. Dr Suresh said the discussion during the IPC will revolve around the theme of “Pharma Vision 2020 – Building Trust in Safety and Efficacy of Medicines”. “In the international market,the Indian medicines are known for their quality and effectiveness. Many of the multinationals are now partnering with the Indian companies,” he said. India has set a target of 25 billion dollars till 2015. The target will make the industry — which is around Rs 60,000 crore at present,including the Rs 36,000-crore domestic and the Rs 24,000-crore export market — three times larger than what it is today. Dr Suresh added: “But,in order to reach that figure,we will require that many trained professionals and jobs.” The government is supporting the pharmaceutical industry and has allotted Rs 100 crore for upgrading the institutes.

4 held for embedding fake IMEI
AHMEDABAD: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested the owners of two mobile phone stores in the city for embedding the unique 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI) number in Chinese-made sets after the same were banned across India. Noman Mansoori and Faizal Cheepa of Samanta Computerised Mobile Store at Relief Road,and Washim Mullaji and Munaf Mullaji of M-Tech Mobile Store at Gheekantha Road were arrested in this connection. A team of ATS went to Mansoori posing as customers and asked him to embed the IMEI number on their Chinese handsets. Mansoori took them to Mullajis where the accused were caught red-handed. The ATS said they had prior information that these two stores were involved in this illegal business.

2 chargesheeted in dummy writers’ case
AHMEDABAD: The state Education Department filed an affidavit in the Gujarat High Court on Thursday stating it has chargesheeted two education officials for their alleged role in the dummy writers’ scam of March 2008. The officers have been identified as H N Chavda and M C Doshi. In his affidavit,Under Secretary of the Education Department, S M Gamit has stated that the two officers have been issued chargesheets following the recommendations of the Vigilance Commission. The scam had come to light last year when two,students Harsh Kotak and Komal Patel,were found to have pretended an orthopaedic injury to obtain dummy writers for the Class XII Board examinations in science stream. Both Chavda and Doshi were facing allegations of dereliction of duty in connection with the incident. Subsequently,one of the members of the Gujarat University’s Executive Council had filed a petition in the High Court praying departmental steps against the culprit officers in connection with the scam.

Swine flu claims 2 more lives,toll touches 50
Ahmedabad: The spread of swine flu is on the rise again. Though the state Health Department refused to comment on the development,the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had some time ago,alerted about the rise in the spread of the disease during the monsoon and the winter. With two more persons dying of swine flu today,the death toll due to the H1N1 virus in the state has reached 50 as of Thursday. According to the state Health Department,Dhirajben Singh (30) died at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital while four-month-old Nirmal Maheshwar died at the Bhuj General Hospital. According to sources,a 30-year-old woman from Rajasthan,Premabai,died of the virus at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. “Swine flu generally spreads through human contact. But it cannot be confirmed that the H1N1 virus spreads more in winter,” said Dr S J Gandhi,Deputy Director (Epidemic),Commisionerate of Health Services.
An officials said on condition of anonymity: “We can’t say that the H1N1 spread has increased due to the Umiya Mata fair or winter. We are analysing the situation.”