Dr Quinn Medicine Woman

BANGALORE: GE Healthcare, the $17-billion healthcare business of General Electric Company, is planning to invest $200 million in India to tap the rural market for diagnostics and disease monitoring equipments such as ultrasound, computed tomography (CT scanners), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and X-rays.

While the company has already signed agreements with Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh government to outsource radiology equipments in government hospitals, it plans to cover over 12 states in three years.

Following a public-private partnership (PPP) model, the medical device maker, with a revenue of $500 million, would facilitate the rural population with technologies and equipments like to diagnose their diseases at an early stage and would also enable them to monitor it.

“As per the agreement we would try and usher in radiological technologies and experts to provide services to patients. The rural market for diagnosis still remains largely untouched. Our idea is to how to reach the masses and make it affordable,” said GE Healthcare South Asia president and chief executive V Raja.

GE Healthcare has earmarked an investment of around $60 million for equipments under this programme. In Gujarat, the company has already installed devices in five medical colleges, said Mr Raja.

LONDON: A Chinese herbal remedy called horny goat weed is a promising alternative to Viagra for impotent men, Italian researchers said on Monday.

The herb has long held a reputation as a natural aphrodisiac. The lab experiments, which did not look at whether the plant actually increases desire, could lead to new drugs to help men get erections, said Mario Dell'Agli, a researcher at the University of Milan, who led the study.

"This could be the natural Viagra," he said in a telephone interview. "The novelty is that we have synthesised a new molecule that one day may be able to replace Viagra."

Erectile dysfunction is a common condition worldwide, and drugs like Pfizer Inc's But the medicines, which inhibit an enzyme called phosphodiesterase type 5 that restricts blood flow around the body, including to the penis, can have side effects ranging from headaches, upset stomach and visual problems including blindness.

The Italian team looked for alternatives by studying a number of plants reputed to boost sexual performance.

After homing in on horny goat weed, the researchers modified a compound in the plant called icariin and found it blocked the erection-inhibiting enzyme as well as Viagra did.

Because the compound targets the enzyme more precisely, it may have fewer side effects than Viagra, known generically as sildenafil, Dell'Agli said.

Further tests in animals and humans are needed but the extract from the herb represents a potential new erectile dysfunction treatment with fewer side effects, Dell'Agli said.

"The compound icariin is present in the horny goat weed in large amounts and its activity against (the enzyme) is lower compared to Viagra," he said. "But the new molecule we synthesized from icariin is as good as Viagra against (the enzyme)."

HYDERABAD: Private sector health care major Apollo Hospitals on Saturday announced it will set up 200 clinics across the country to provide a comprehensive diabetes management.

The company launched on pilot basis two diabetes management clinics here, and plans to set up 50 clinics over the next six months and 150 more by December 2009 in various parts of the country.

Named Sugar, these clinics will provide comprehensive diagnosis and evaluation, education, and treatment, including life-style support to the diabetics. "This is a major initiative to combat diabetes which has assumed epidemic proportions in the country," Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Pratap C. Reddy said.

He told reporters that Rs.400 million were earmarked for setting up the 200 clinics.

Apollo signed a memorandum of understanding for the purpose with MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Merck, a research-driven global pharmaceutical company based in the US.

MSD managing director A. Naveen Rao said his company would provide scientific inputs, Merck's software tool specific for the development of the structured care protocol (SCP) to manage the diabetic patients, training to physicians and paramedics and patient education content.

According to Reddy, India is considered the global capital of diabetes and it is projected that every fifth adult in the country would be a diabetic. There are 32 million diabetics in the country and the number is likely to reach 80 million by 2030.

"It is projected that India will need to spend a whopping $30 billion by 2030 to manage the disease burden created by diabetes," he said.

The Sugar clinics will focus on identification and management of pre-diabetics. "A scientific screening programme will identify those who are likely to become diabetics in near future and they will be taken through a life style management programme to prevent or delay onset of diabetes," Apollo chief executive K. Hari Prasad said.

The clinics will also offer year-long disease management programme, including controlling blood sugar level and early intervention for complications of diabetes.

MUMBAI: Pradip Lahiri lost his voice to cancer in the early 1990s, but that hasn’t stopped him from teaching lakhs of those who have lost their vocal cords to speak again.

Lahiri, a former technocrat at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC), found out, in 1992, that the nagging throat trouble he had been suffering from was carcinoma larynx.

He mustered all the courage he had, and decided to go ahead with treatment, which included voice box surgery. It wasn’t easy — the road he was traversing was uncertain, and full of hard knocks.

A long-time associate, Tapas Kar, recalls he had even asked one of his close associates to ensure his dues were paid in case of any unforeseen event occurring.

In the same year, he underwent a larynx operation at the Tata Memorial Hospital. He lost his voice and sense of smell as the direct breathing passage was cut off. Doctors had left a gaping hole in the neck as a permanent respiratory path. He had literally been turned into a mute spectator of his surroundings — not a word could escape his throat.
Most others would have seen their world crumbling to pieces. But Lahiri was not one to give up. With practice and dedication, he revived his voice, managing the bare necessities of communication. Relatives and friends say it is a miracle. “It’s a victory of will power,” says Lahiri.

He took this as a new beginning, striving to rekindle faith in the lives of those who have lost their vocal cords due to laryngectomy. Lahiri got in touch with the Cancer Rehabilitation Clinic at Prince Ali Khan Hospital, Mazgaon. When the hospital authorities felt the need to expand services for laryngectomy survivors, they asked Lahiri to join their rehabilitation clinic. He was sent by the hospital to Tokyo for an instructor’s course.

On completing the course, he joined the clinic. He now imparts voice training and helps patients learn esophagal speech. The training, spread over three sessions in a week, takes a minimum of three months, depending on the patient’s condition. Lahiri has been conducting the training here since 1998.

His motivation for doing this is simple. “Caring for cancer patients is my lifeline,” he says. (The clinic attends to breast cancer survivors and laryngectomees. Patients with colostomy and other types of cancer are also offered counselling on Fridays between 11 am and 12.30 pm. The clinic co-ordinator could be contacted at 23777864/23777800).

MUMBAI: USV, the largest anti-diabetic drug maker in India, is planning to enter the injectibles segment. The company will inaugurate its first injectibles plant at Daman by September end.

“We will only be concentrating on the US and the European Union for our injectibles business. We will be filing 10 products in the US alone over the next three years,” said USV MD Prashant Tiwari. The company is also expanding its API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) manufacturing capacity at its plant in Chiplun.

“We have invested Rs 50 crore in this expansion and expect the added capacity to contribute Rs 150 crore over the next 2-3 years, as various products that we are interested in, go off-patent. 2011 is going to be a big year for us,” Mr Tiwari added.

USV has no plans to launch its injectibles segment in India, even though the domestic business contributes 68% of its revenue. “This is because of the price difference. Already 30% of our domestic products are under price control. Also if we launch, we need to launch a full range of products which we don’t have. We are, however, open to out-licensing,” Mr Tiwari said. The company has a total of 15 ANDAs (Abbreviated New Drug Application), which it will be filing 5-6 every year.

Apart from its IP generics, USV is also working on innovative research on oral insulin and typhoid vaccine. Both these are in the pre-clinical stage currently. USV has allocated Rs 60-70 crore for R&D this year. “We have chosen to work on products which can be manufactured on a large scale and which also can address the IP issue,” Mr Tiwari said.