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Drugs, diagnostics and medical technology

Drug approval and trials, the pharmacopoeia, substandard medicines, generics, prices, devices and pharmacovigilance. It serves GS3 answers on science and technology in health.

Foundation note: Who regulates medicines in India, and the drug schedules

Showing 2 of 10 articles, those that changed from 1 to 31 July 2026.Show all

Central licensing of cell and gene therapies

Prelims and Mains

Stem cell products, gene therapies and xenografts are licensed jointly by the central and State drug regulators under the Drugs Rules, 1945, as vaccines and recombinant medicines already are.

This closes the route by which clinics sold unproven stem cell cures.

What changed

3 Jul 2026New
- The Drugs Rules, 1945 were amended to bring stem cell products, gene therapies and xenografts under joint central and state licensing, as vaccines and recombinant DNA medicines already are.
- The amendment approves no therapy. Its practical target is clinics selling unproven stem cell cures.
- It covers CAR-T therapy, in which a patient's own T cells are engineered to attack cancer, and animal tissue products such as heart valves.
The Indian Express, 3 Jul 2026: Stem cell products, gene therapies and xenografts brought under central licensing (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 2 Jul 2026: Centre Expands Centrally License Approving Authority (CLAA) Framework to Include Cell and Stem Cell-derived Products, Gene Therapeutics and Xenografts (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 4 Jul 2026: Central licensing net to cover stem cell, gene therapies (opens in a new tab)

Drones for tuberculosis samples

Prelims and Mains

i-DRONE is the Indian Council of Medical Research's programme for carrying medical samples and supplies by drone, tested for tuberculosis sputum samples in Telangana.

What changed

12 Jul 2026BriefA study under the i-DRONE initiative in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana flew sputum samples from health centres to laboratories. Diagnosis time fell from 15 days to 5, and the patient's average cost fell too. The Hindu, 12 Jul 2026: Drones move TB samples, cut diagnosis costs from ₹9,451 to ₹91 in new ICMR trial (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 16 Jul 2026: Research under the ICMR’s i-DRONE initiative demonstrates the potential of drone technology to strengthen access to TB diagnostic services in difficult-to-reach areas (opens in a new tab)

Pharmacovigilance: The monitoring of a medicine after it reaches the market, gathering reports of adverse effects so that harm which shows only in wide use is caught and acted on.

Materiovigilance: The same watch kept on medical devices after they reach the market, for faults and for the harm they cause in use.

Child sex ratio: Girls per 1,000 boys in the 0 to 6 age group.

Schedule K: The schedule of the Drugs Rules, 1945 that exempts specified classes of drugs from certain provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Fixed dose combination: A medicine with two or more active drugs combined in a fixed ratio in a single dosage form.

Schedule H2: The schedule of the Drugs Rules, 1945 listing drugs that must carry a QR code or bar code for track and trace.

Track and trace: A mechanism that follows every unit of a product from factory to retail store.

Virtual autopsy: A non invasive or minimally invasive examination of a deceased person using CT and MRI without extensive dissection.

Orphan drug: A medicine for a rare disease, neglected because its market is small.