26-Oct-16 To reduce its dependence on China for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of drugs, the Prime Minister’s Office has instructed the NITI Aayog along with the ministries of health, commerce and industry, and chemicals and fertilisers to draw up a comprehensive plan to produce APIs in India. [image: The Indian Express]

12-Oct-16 Hoya Corp is to buy Performance Optics for USD476 mn. “Performance Optics provides Hoya with additional capabilities in polycarbonate, photochromic and polarized lens technologies, as well as an expansion of our global footprint,” Hoya Vision Care CEO Girts Cimermans said. Performance Optics has manufacturing facilities in the US, Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.

25-Oct-16 Among patients diagnosed with diabetes, only 20-30 percent of East Asian patients have normal insulin secretion, lower than the 50 percent of Western patients. A Japanese retrospective study showed that while about 80 percent of Westerners with type 2 diabetes were obese, only 30-40 percent of Taiwanese were obese and the average age of onset was younger. [image: BBC]

24-Oct-16 With the increasing demand for TCM in Singapore, the integration of three important aspects - education, clinical practice and research - is seen as essential. To kick start research efforts, Singapore's Ministry of Health has ring-fenced SGD3 mn (USD2.2 mn) to encourage collaborative clinical research in TCM. [image: Yahoo! / Singapore Business Review]

17-Oct-16 Singapore's medical tourism receipts were SGD1.1 bn (USD791 mn) in 2012, dropping to SGD994 mn (USD715 mn) in 2014. Southeast Asia's medical tourists are looking elsewhere for treatment. In Singapore, a hip replacement at a private hospital costs SGD14,000. The same procedure at Mahkota Medical Centre in Malaysia - which treats 80,000 foreign patients annually - costs only SGD8,800. [image: The Straits Times]