Piramal is continuing on its acquisitive spree, snapping up a basket of injectable products from Janssen that are expected to give the diversified Indian group a foothold in the $20bn-plus global generic injectable hospital drugs market.

Afrigen’s MD, Petro Terblanche, discusses the operational freedom that the WTO intellectual property waiver provides for its COVID-19 vaccine being developed under the wider WHO-backed mRNA technology transfer hub initiative. The executive doesn’t anticipate big pharma pushback but says the alliance will “test the system”, though others believe the waiver in its current form doesn’t count for much.

Indian investigating agency probes alleged bribe paid to drugs regulator in a case pertaining to the approval process of Biocon Biologics’ insulin aspart. The company strongly denies the allegations, underscoring that all its product approvals are backed by science and clinical data.