Union minister of chemicals and fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan assured the small scale pharmaceutical sector that extending support to them has been an on-going agenda of the present government and it would continue further.

Annoyed over the inordinate delay in implementing the Rs 560 crore pharmaceutical technology up gradation fund (PTUF), which has literally been lying idle with the government for a long time due to the bureaucratic delays, the small scale pharma units in the country have once again made a representation to the department of pharmaceuticals to implement the scheme without any delay.

The panel, set up by the pharmaceutical department for working out a mechanism to negotiate the prices of drugs patented outside the country, has met the captains of select multinational companies to brief on its draft model, but the meeting failed to arrive at a final conclusion.

The Chennai Patent Office has dismissed the pre-grant opposition filed way back in 2006 by two activist groups against Roche's Indian patent application on antiviral drug Valcyte (valganciclovir hydrochloride).