Drugs

India has entered the first phase of generic semaglutide approvals, with CDSCO clearing multiple formulations for obesity and diabetes, paving the way for lower-cost GLP-1 therapies

CDSCO has flagged seven drug batches as spurious and listed 167 others as not of standard quality in its December 2025 surveillance, covering common medicines for BP, pain and allergies

Lieutenant Governors or administrators of five Union territories will now have the power to authorise officers to search any premises or seize any record related to misleading advertisements claiming magical properties and remedies for the treatment of certain diseases like cancer and diabetes. In an order notified in the gazette recently by the Home Ministry, the government has delegated the powers to LGs or administrators of the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry. "...the President hereby directs that the administrator (whether known as LG or administrator) of Union territories of Lakshadweep, Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir shall, subject to the control of the President and until further orders, exercise the power and discharge the functions of the state government under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 (2

A court here on Saturday sentenced former Kerala transport minister Antony Raju and a court official to imprisonment for tampering with evidence in a 1990 drug seizure case. Raju, a serving MLA of the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress and an LDF ally, was convicted by the Nedumangad Judicial First Class Magistrate Ruby Ismail in connection with tampering with evidence related to the seizure of 61.5 grams of hashish from an Australian national at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in 1990. The court also convicted K S Jose, a former clerk of a court in Thiruvananthapuram, in the case. Both were found guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 193 (giving false evidence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 465 (forgery) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). Raju was sentenced to six months' imprisonment under Section 120B, three .

Objections and suggestions which may be received from any person within the period specified above will be considered by the Central Government

Draft amendments propose removing "syrup" from Schedule K exemptions, tightening over-the-counter sales in small villages after Madhya Pradesh cough syrup deaths

The US military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person. In a social media post, US Southern Command said, Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Southern Command provided no evidence that the vessel was engaged in drug smuggling. A video posted by US Southern Command shows splashes of water near one side of the boat. After a second salvo, the rear of the boat catches fire. More splashes engulf the craft and the fire grows. In the final second of the video, the vessel can be seen adrift with a large patch of fire alongside it. Earlier videos of US boat strikes showed vessels suddenly exploding, suggesting missile strikes. Some strike videos even had visible rocket-like projectiles coming down on the boats. The Trump administration has said the strikes we

The Punjab government has also constituted a 5-member Cabinet Sub-Committee, led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, to monitor the war on drugs

Rising pollution levels in November have led to a sharp jump in respiratory medicine sales, with asthma and allergy treatments seeing strong demand

A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the "Friends" star's overdose death has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to 44-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Plasencia was the first to be sentenced of the five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry's death at age 54 in 2023. Plasencia admitted to illegally selling large amounts of ketamine to Perry, though he did not supply the dose that authorities say killed the actor. The doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a "moron" who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.

A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry in the weeks before the Friends star's overdose death is set to be the first of five people sentenced in the case on Wednesday. Perry's family and possibly others affected by his death will have a chance to make a statement in federal court in Los Angeles before the sentencing of Dr Salvador Plasencia. Prosecutors are asking US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett to sentence Plasencia, 44, to three years in prison after a plea agreement where the doctor admitted to illegally selling Perry large amounts of ketamine. He was not accused of selling the actor the dose that investigators say killed him on October 28, 2023. Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression. But when his regular doctor wouldn't provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling to Perry despite knowing he was a struggling addict. He texted another doctor

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday flagged the issues of "rising menace of drugs and illegal liquor" and the plight of farmers in Gujarat, and claimed that the state is "sinking" despite a double-engine government being in place. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that during the Congress party's ongoing 'Jan Aakrosh Yatra' in Gujarat, people, especially women, have repeatedly stated that the "rising menace of drugs, illegal liquor, and crime" has deepened the sense of insecurity in their lives. "Gujarat is the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, where traditions of truth, morality, and justice have prevailed, but over the past few years, the future of the state's youth is being pushed toward the dark world of drugs and crime," Gandhi said in a post on X in Hindi. Women are taking to the streets in large numbers because criminals are receiving protection from those in power, while they themselves are met only with neglect, he claimed. "Gujarat is asking why i

India marks World AIDS Day with HIV prevalence at 0.2%, highest among injecting drug users, even as Mizoram continues to report rates far above the national average

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said tackling drug abuse requires a "whole-of-government" approach that integrates enforcement, rehabilitation, and community-level intervention. He also stressed the urgent need to transform public perception of police, particularly among the youth, by enhancing professionalism and sensitivity, and strengthening urban and tourist policing. Addressing the 60th All India Conference of Director Generals/Inspector Generals of Police at the Indian Institute of Management Raipur on the concluding day, the prime minister called for regular monitoring of banned organisations, holistic development of areas freed from Left Wing Extremism, and the adoption of innovative models to strengthen coastal security. He called for strengthening urban policing, revitalising tourist police units, and increasing public awareness about the newly-enacted Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, and Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, which replaced the ...

As GLP-1-based weight-loss and diabetes therapies gain popularity, India's diagnostics market is seeing a sharp rise in metabolic testing

A case has been registered against 28 drug dealers, including a father-son duo, in Varanasi for allegedly smuggling codeine-laced cough syrup for intoxication, police said on Monday. They said that an investigation by the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department revealed that Shubham Jaiswal, a resident of Prahlad Ghat, Varanasi, and his father, Bholanath Prasad, supplied large quantities of the banned adulterated syrup to 26 Varanasi-based businessmen from their Ranchi-based firm, Shaili Traders. Subsequently, a case was registered on Saturday based on a complaint lodged by Drug Inspector Junab Ali in Varanasi, police said. In the complaint, the drug inspector mentioned that, following the discovery that Shaili Traders had been selling large quantities of codeine-laced cough syrup in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Varanasi, the 26 Varanasi-based firms were inspected, and several were found to be closed. Calls to the numbers available on the firms' portals were

Japan is confronting a fast-evolving drug crisis as etomidate-laced 'zombie cigarettes' spread among young users, triggering arrests and trafficking probes

The U.S. military's 20th strike on a boat accused of transporting drugs has killed four people in the Caribbean Sea, a Pentagon official said Friday, coming as the Trump administration escalates its campaign in South American waters. The latest strike happened Monday, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. It brings the death toll from the strikes that began in September to 80, with the Mexican Navy suspending its search for a survivor of a strike in late October after four days. The attack, which occurred the same day that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced two strikes had been carried out on Sunday, comes as the Trump administration expands the U.S. military's already large presence in the region by bringing in the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier. The nation's most advanced warship is expected to arrive in the coming days after traveling from the Mediterranean Sea. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on ...

Servier India has tied up with MedGenome and Reliance-backed Strand Life Sciences to offer low-cost IDH1 and IDH2 biomarker testing for rare cancers like AML and CCA across India

Mounjaro is part of a new generation of weight-loss and diabetes drugs that target metabolic hormones. Introduced in March, it was launched ahead of rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy