Author: Biotech Express

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved a proposed deal involving Serum Institute Life Sciences, Covidshield Technologies and Biocon Biologics. Once the deal is complete, Serum Institute Life Sciences Pvt Ltd will have about 15 per cent stake in Biocon Biologics Ltd, according to the notice filed with the regulator. Covidshield Technologies Pvt Ltd (CTPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Serum Institute of Life Sciences, will be merged into Biocon Biologics. In a tweet on Wednesday, the watchdog said it has cleared the “merger by absorption of Covidshield Technologies into Biocon Biologics in consideration for acquisition of approximately 15 per cent equity shareholding of Biocon Biologics by Serum Institute Life Sciences.” CTPL…

An Aurangabad resident has approached Bombay High Court seeking compensation of Rs 1000 crore from the Maharashtra government, Centre and Serum Institute of India claiming his daughter, a medical student, died due to side effects of the Covishield vaccine that she was administered in January 2021. Since the covid vaccination started many individuals are complaining about serious vaccine side effects, most of them reported in Covishield and include blood clotting events in various parts of body. These adverse events are creating many unexpected outcomes in patients like blindness, heart attacks and many more as reported in article appeared in Biotech…

A new article looks at how producers of such products as commercial milk formulas, processed foods, alcoholic beverages, pharmaceuticals and electronic gaming software have been ramping up efforts to influence United States policy toward the WHO. Has the World Health Organization become collateral damage in the wars over global commerce? Producers of such products as commercial milk formulas, processed foods, alcoholic beverages, pharmaceuticals and electronic gaming software have been ramping up efforts to influence United States policy toward the WHO. This, University of California, Davis, researchers suggest in a new paper, compromises a global health governance system that should be…

Last month a letter signed by many health professionals was sent to Hon’ble President of India, to report the shortcomings and harm which can arise after passing of current draft of Public health bill. The letter discussed various aspects which I am putting forward as an article. While the media houses have got the Bill in preparation for Monsoon session, it is not shown to We the People of India, yet. But from whatever we gather from media is that it would be 2017 bill which was placed before public for pre-legislative comments plus more definition of lockdown. So, our…

The peer review system – or the evaluation of academic work by others in the same field – has broken down because authors can just pay to be published, says leading biologist Shekhar Mande. The former director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) told ThePrint that mushrooming online journals, even the reputed ones, charge an author hefty fees to post their scientific findings. Mande said a scientific publication brought in only a very small set of editors and peer reviewers to vet this article. This introduced a lot of subjectivity and personal bias in the system,…

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19. The 66-year-old tech giant wrote in a tweet Tuesday that he is experiencing mild symptoms and is “following the experts’ advice” by isolating himself until he’s healthy. The billionaire further informed that he has been completely vaccinated and received his booster shot too. “I’m fortunate to be vaccinated and boosted and have access to testing and great medical care,” Gates tweeted. Gates has said that the biggest scientific breakthrough that would help end the pandemic would be better and longer-lasting vaccines. Notably, his book, “How to…

A paper on the potential use of ivermectin to treat Covid-19 has been retracted for a litany of flaws, joining at least 10 other articles on the therapy some liked to promote without evidence to fall. The article was part of a special issue of Toxicology Reports on Covid-19 that has received an expression of concern; six of the eight articles still have EoCs. Two, including one “Why are we vaccinating children against COVID-19?,” have now been retracted. The newly retracted article, “Use of ivermectin in the treatment of Covid-19: A pilot trial,” was written by a group from Brazil…

It took about five months, but a virology journal has retracted a paper on the microbe that causes COVID-19 after tagging it with an expression of concern back in December. As we reported then, the paper, “SARS–CoV–2 Spike Impairs DNA Damage Repair and Inhibits V(D)J Recombination In Vitro,” was a hit with vaccine skeptics who used the article to buttress their claims that Covid vaccines are unsafe. The paper, which appeared in MDPI’s Viruses, generated enough buzz on social media and in the news to make it into the top 5% of all articles tracked by Altmetric. This Week in…

Sound is used to burst clots according to several studies and this is contrary to the statement made by Ujjain doctor who said that sound has made blood clot and ultimately death. The news raise further questions that the covid vaccination status was taken into consideration while doing autopsy and whether vaccine has role to play in this. An 18-year-old boy dancing at his friend’s wedding suddenly collapsed and died. A doctor claims that loud music played by the DJ led to the fatality. It is widely acknowledged that noise pollution has adverse health effects, but can it actually kill?…

Janssen (Johnson & Johnson ‘s) COVID-19 vaccine is now limited to certain individuals ages 18 and up after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration downgraded its emergency use authorization (EUA). The regulator’s decision came after finding that some people develop a greater risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, a rare and possibly life-threatening blood clotting disorder. People with TTS have low blood platelet counts and the onset of symptoms happens around one to two weeks after receiving Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA has already updated the Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine to reflect this change, including a warning statement at…