Category:

Non-Life

Pfizer agrees to pay $345 mln to resolve EpiPen pricing lawsuit

The litigation followed a public outcry in 2016 after Mylan, which owns the rights to market and distribute the devices, raised the price of a pair of EpiPens to $600, from $100 in 2008, putting it in the center of an ongoing U.S. debate over the high cost of medicines. The lawsuit accused Mylan and Pfizer, which manufactured the EpiPen for Mylan, of engaging in anticompetitive conduct that allowed them to maintain a monopoly over the market for the devices and their profitable revenues.

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Aviation ministry issues draft rules to ensure ease of using drones in India

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said ”Drones are bringing the next big tech revolution around the globe with reduced costs, resources and time taken for operations. It is upon us to ride on the new wave and facilitate its uptake, especially among our startups,” he said on Twitter.

No flight permission, according to the draft rules, will be required up to 400 feet in green zones and up to 200 feet in the area between 8 and 12 km from the airport perimeter.

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Assam private hospitals directed no COVID-19 patient be refused admission for having health insurance

The Health and Family Welfare Department said that it has received reports of some private hospitals refusing admission to COVID-19 patients despite having medical insurance.It referred to an order by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) in March last year that removed all hurdles in the policies and had directed that the cases should be handled expeditiously.

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Sharp rise in Africa COVID-19 deaths, WHO reports

The rising caseload comes amid inadequate vaccine supplies. So far, 52 million people in Africa have been inoculated, which is just 1.6 per cent of total COVID-19 vaccinations worldwide.

Meanwhile, roughly 1.5 per cent of the continent’s population, or 18 million people, are fully vaccinated, compared with over 50 per cent in some high-income countries.

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Covid deaths and cases rise again globally, hurting return to normalcy

The World Health Organization reported Wednesday that deaths climbed last week after nine straight weeks of decline. It recorded more than 55,000 lives lost, a 3 per cent increase from the week before.

Cases rose 10 per cent last week to nearly 3 million, with the highest numbers recorded in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Britain, WHO said.

The reversal has been attributed to low vaccination rates, the relaxation of mask rules and other precautions, and the swift spread of the more-contagious delta variant, which WHO said has now been identified in 111 countries and is expected to become globally dominant in the coming months.

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