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Abstract Background The APOA1-C3-A5 gene cluster plays an important role in the regulation of lipids. Asian Indians have an increased tendency for abnormal lipid levels and high risk of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Therefore, the present study aimed to elucidate the relationship of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the Apo11q cluster, namely the -75G>A, +83C>T SNPs in the APOA1 gene, the Sac1 SNP in the APOC3 gene and the S19W variant in the APOA5 gene to plasma lipids and CAD in 190 affected sibling pairs (ASPs) belonging to Asian Indian families with a strong CAD history. Methods & results Genotyping and lipid assays were carried out using standard protocols. Plasma lipids showed a strong heritability (h2 48% – 70%; P < 0.0001). A subset of 77 ASPs with positive sign of Logarithm of Odds (LOD) score showed significant linkage to CAD trait by multi-point analysis (LOD score 7.42, P < 0.001) and to Sac1 (LOD score 4.49) and -75G>A (LOD score 2.77) SNPs by single-point analysis (P < 0.001). There was significant proportion of mean allele sharing (pi) for the Sac1 (pi 0.59), -75G>A (pi 0.56) and +83C>T (pi 0.52) (P < 0.001) SNPs, respectively. QTL analysis showed suggestive evidence of linkage of the Sac1 SNP to Total Cholesterol (TC), High Density Lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) with LOD scores of 1.42, 1.72 and 1.19, respectively (P < 0.01). The Sac1 and -75G>A SNPs along with hypertension showed maximized correlations with TC, TG and Apo B by association analysis. Conclusion The APOC3-Sac1 SNP is an important genetic variant that is associated with CAD through its interaction with plasma lipids and other standard risk factors among Asian Indians.

Export of goods of any country has greater relevance, especially in the wake of ongoing global trade wars which have spillover effects to other third world countries across the globe. India enjoys a competitive advantage in the biopharmaceutical space due to low costs, huge and varied patient pools, availability of many technologists, and 50 per cent less cost in conducting a clinical trial than that of developed economies. This paper has made an ardent attempt to critically evaluate seven factors, namely research & development expenses, net sales, net fixed assets, branding expenses, profit after tax, import of capital goods, and import of raw materials. The empirical findings of this paper indicate that R&D expenditure, net sales, net fixed assets, import of capital goods, and import of raw material are the main factors which are influencing the export of biopharmaceutical products. However, branding expenditure and profit after tax do not have any direct impact on the export of biopharmaceuticals products in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fundamental principle for the development of biosimilars involves the selection of an adequate reference product, development of an effective manufacturing process, achieving the standards of quality control, conducting both preclinical and clinical studies. India's initial guidelines were brought into effect in 2012 and were further revised in 2016. Biosimilar drugs have the potential to cause higher progression and rapid development in the manufacturing industry in the near future. The Indian market is already enjoying a significant increase in the biosimilar manufacturing sector. Out of the USD 32 billion Indian pharmaceutical market, biosimilar products occupy a share of 2 billion dollars. It has been projected to grow annually at a rate of around 30%, reaching around 40 billion dollars by 2030. This growth will be propelled further due to an increasing number of biologic patents expiring in the next few years. In India, biosimilar development cost falls around 10-20 million USD due to the extensive regulatory procedures. Biosimilar makers face unusual problems in the development process, clinical improvement, manufacturing, registration, product marketing, and ongoing competition which reduces the entry of new players and restrains the market growth. The regulatory environment of the global pharmaceutical market is becoming more stringent and impacting exports. Several other factors, such as inequalities in the stringency of regulations, the flow of investment funds and unclear market maturity trends have served as deterrents in the active pursual of the global markets by Indian players. In order to make the Indian Pharmaceutical industry globally competitive, an active and smooth regulatory set-up is integral. This article implies that nurturing the flourishing industry landscape is critical. The players in the industry must be provided with adequate resources to take on commercial challenges faced during market entry, making both domestic and international markets more accessible to aid the multiplication of export opportunities and fully harness the existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today the entire world is observing an unprecedented health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Severely affected are the first world countries, which have the best of technology and healthcare infrastructure. Most of them, like Italy, the US, Spain and Germany, have seen exponential growth patterns. Despite the best possible efforts, almost no country has been able to flatten the curve convincingly. This pandemic is more challenging than its predecessors because it is highly contagious and roughly three-fourth of the infected people has not shown any known symptoms. The unavailability of quality testing kits makes early detection difficult. India has not seen the worst part of this evil as yet, possibly due to timely measures like behavioural interventions as well as movement and travel restrictions. Based on various studies that have been considered to develop this analysis, the mortality rate in India is around 3.2 per cent among the diseased, which is much less than the global rate. Due to drastic variations in public health infrastructure, demographic pattern and geography, the spread of the disease in India is, not uniform. The current restrictions have disrupted all economic activity, and the worst affected are the labourers and migrant workers. This is undoubtedly a testing time for India, but if we have to avoid under-preparedness in another similar situation, it depends on how India strengthens its public healthcare, legal and economic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at a study which highlights the importance of intronic variants of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene which is responsible for cystic fibrosis (CF). It mentions targeted mutation analysis (TMA) is usually performed using one of many commercially available kits and using next generation sequencing (NGS) of the whole CFTR gene. It also mentions extensive bronchiectasis and impaired lung function.