The Medicines Control Council (MCC) has granted humanitarian group Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) access to a cheaper drug to treat extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).   The MCC's decision is the conclusion of a three-year battle for MSF and comes a few weeks after the MSF lodged a high court case against the MCC. This followed the regulatory body's failure to convene a statutory committee to allow MSF to appeal the.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 6th September 2014

 Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health has Monday launched the universal health for all campaign in Nairobi and noted challenges to realize the vision.   According to James Macharia, it is a daunting task to achieve universal health coverage in developing countries such as Kenya due to financial constraints and the over-reliance on direct payments at the time people need care.   “Kenyan people do not have the.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 31st July 2014

 A new genetic test for tuberculosis (TB) could dramatically improve the accuracy of diagnoses of infected children in developing countries, although a simple diagnostic kit could be some way off. The research, published last month (1 May) in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined the DNA of more than 2,800 children admitted to hospitals in Kenya, Malawi and South Africa with TB symptoms. It identified specific gene sequences that.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 30th July 2014

Mumbai-based drugmaker Cipla Ltd is acquiring 51 per cent stake in a UAE-based pharmaceutical company which has manufacturing and distribution business in Yemen for $21 million. “Given the recent preference to local manufacturing, this secures the company’s presence in a fast growing market,” the company said in a stock exchange announcement. At present Cipla has over 200 products in Yemen market. The company will pay $21.... Read more »

Posted on : Monday , 28th July 2014