Supreme Court Slams Cancer Drug Prices While New Keralam Dengue Tool Takes Shape

Medicine Pricing And Court Concerns

The Supreme Court has raised serious concerns over the massive gap between the supply price and the maximum retail price of essential cancer medicines. The court noted an instance where a cancer drug supplied to retailers for about ₹2,700 was sold at a maximum retail price of ₹27,000, describing the difference as broad daylight dacoity. Judges also questioned hospitals that force patients to buy medicines only from in-house hospital pharmacies. The bench suggested a uniform 16 percent profit margin, while also discussing generic prescriptions and the proper rollout of the Drugs Prices Control Order.

Drug Misuse And Public Health

Indiscriminate use of common painkillers and antibiotics poses severe public health risks. Taking painkillers for too long or in the wrong way can cause serious kidney damage. At the same time, misusing or overusing antibiotics makes dangerous infections much harder to treat.

Dengue Early Warning System

Researchers at the Institute of Advanced Virology in Keralam are building a new Dengue Early Warning System to track and predict outbreaks. The tool uses machine learning and combines disease data with local rainfall, temperature and humidity to give weekly forecasts for every district. This system uses six years of past data collected between March 2020 and February 2026. Once fully tested and approved, the forecasts will help health departments spot rising cases early and plan better mosquito control and hospital readiness.

Context

Dengue is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes that thrive in warm and wet weather. Mosquito eggs can stay dry for months and hatch as soon as they touch water, making regular cleaning of containers vital to stop outbreaks before they start.