News Brief

Natco launches anti-migraine drug

Hyderabad: Natco Pharma Ltd has announced the launch of a new generation anti-migraine drug under the brand name Ritza. The total migraine market in India is substantial and growing at the rate of 25 per cent per annum, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company is expecting to garner a substantial market share in the first year of launch, it said. As part of its Continuing Medical Education Programme, the company will organise seminars on the role of Rizatriptan in migraine management at Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi during March and April, it added.

— PTI

Divided UN panel opposes all forms of human cloning

Washington: A deeply divided UN General Assembly committee adopted a nonbinding statement calling on governments to prohibit all forms of human cloning, including techniques used in research on human stem cells. The Assembly’s legal committee voted 71 to 35 with 43 abstentions in favour of the proposal put forward by Honduras and backed by the George W Bush administration. The measure now goes to the full 191-nation Assembly.

Islamic countries said they will abstain because there was no consensus. Opponents of the measure, like Britain, Belgium and Singapore, said the text will have no impact on their practice of co-called therapeutic stem cell research. At the heart of the debate was medical research relying on therapeutic cloning, in which human embryos are cloned to obtain the cells used in the studies and are later discarded.

Many scientists say the technique holds out the hope of a cure for some 100m people with such conditions as Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes and spinal cord injuries. But the US, Costa Rica and other governments have argued that they view this type of research, for whatever purpose, as the taking of human life.

— Reuters