Germany is drastically squeezing orphan drug pricing while new US laws protect rare diseases drugs from price negotiations. These contrasting moves fuel the longstanding debate over whether orphans still deserve special incentives.

GSK discontinues Cervarix in India as part of portfolio rationalization efforts against the backdrop of the arrival of Serum’s 'affordable' quadrivalent HPV vaccine. The heat is also believed to be on the UK drugmaker’s pneumococcal vaccine Synflorix in the country.

Indegene’s chief technology officer, Tarun Mathur, talks to Scrip about blockchain’s potential in a number of areas across pharma’s operations including the clinical supply chain and trials as well as its role in enabling improved trust in the healthcare data ecosystem.

MSD India managing director Rehan Khan talks to Scrip about price adjustments for Januvia and the brand’s strong physician recall amid a tsunami of competition post loss of exclusivity, as also plans for Gardasil, which faces upcoming competition from Indian vaccines star Serum Institute. He also signals huge strides made by Keytruda, now the top cancer therapy in the country.