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India is seeking to boost drug exports to semi-regulated markets in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia to reduce its dependence on the U.S., where tariff concerns pose risks, officials from a government-backed trade body told Reuters on Thursday. The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) also plans to push for sales of finished goods to China to bridge the trade deficit, the officials said. The Indian industry imports more than 60% of its raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients from China. Get the latest news from India and how it matters to the world with the Reuters India File newsletter. Sign up here. While Indian pharmaceutical exports are currently exempt from President Donald Trump's tariffs of up to 50%, growing uncertainty and tensions between the countries have kept the industry cautious. "It is a matter of concern for us," Pharmexcil Chairman Namit Joshi said, referring to the U.S. tariffs. The U.S. is India's largest market and accounts for slightly more than a third of India's pharmaceutical exports, which comprise mainly cheaper generic versions of popular drugs. Exports to the country rose 20% to about $10.5 billion in fiscal 2025. "The point is how medium and small enterprises and big companies can come together...

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce that use of Kenvue's (KVUE.N), opens new tab popular over-the-counter pain medication Tylenol in pregnant women is potentially linked to autism, contrary to medical guidelines that say it is safe to use, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Kennedy, in the report, will also suggest a medicine derived from folate called folinic acid can be used to treat symptoms of autism in some people, the WSJ reported. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that until the final report is released, claims about its contents are speculation. "We are using gold-standard science to get to the bottom of America’s unprecedented rise in autism rates," the spokesperson said. Shares of Kenvue fell 14% after the report. Tylenol, whose active ingredient is acetaminophen, is a widely used pain reliever, including by pregnant women. Kenvue said in a statement that it believes there is no causal link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism. The company advises expecting mothers to speak to healthcare professionals before taking OTC medications, including Tylenol. The U.S. Food and...

The Netherlands is aiming to increase imports of Indian generic drugs into the country, as it looks to diversify its portfolio and avoid supply constraints, Dutch government officials and industry experts said at an event on Friday. India, popularly referred to as the 'pharmacy of the world, exported $616 million worth of drugs in fiscal year 2025 to the Netherlands, making it India's seventh largest export market. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. The biggest market for India is the U.S., where tariff concerns linger. India mostly exports generic drugs that are cheaper versions of popular innovative drugs. "The Netherlands has a generic uptake of 80% for annual prescriptions... Four out of 5 medicines going to patients are generic drugs," Kayleigh van Winssen, deputy director of pharmaceutical affairs at the Netherlands ministry of health, said at the International Pharmaceutical Exhibition in New Delhi. There are over 22,000 medicines authorized for use in the Netherlands, she noted. The European nation encouraged Indian drug manufacturers to increase exports to the Netherlands and across therapy areas. The Netherlands delegation said at the event that the country is looking to diversify its portfolio and reduce dependence on...

Global drugmakers are scrambling to shore up their U.S. manufacturing capacity and domestic inventory as the Trump administration weighs hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical imports into the country. Companies with more exposure to the UK, the EU, South Korea and Japan are likely on better footing as these countries have secured favorable agreements capping tariffs at around 15%. But with many countries still engaged in trade talks with the U.S., businesses around the world are hedging their decisions pending more clarity on final tariff rates.

The European Union's medicines regulator said on Wednesday there has been a surge in illegal medicines marketed as weight-loss and diabetes medicines online in recent months across the region, and warned about a serious risk to public health. Global shortages of these drugs have fueled demand for compounded versions, particularly in the United States. There has also been a spurt in counterfeit products marketed as Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab Ozempic or Eli Lilly's (LLY.N), opens new tab Mounjaro. "Authorities have identified hundreds of fake Facebook profiles, advertisements and e-commerce listings, many of which are hosted outside the EU," the European Medicines Agency said. "Some fraudulent websites and social media advertisements misuse official logos and use false endorsements to mislead consumers." EU law prohibits large-scale compounding of approved drugs, except in rare circumstances. These unauthorized products may not contain the claimed active substance at all and may contain harmful levels of other substances, the EMA added. People who use these products are at a very high risk of treatment failure, serious health problems and dangerous interactions with other medicines, it added. Novo Nordisk sells semaglutide as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss, while Lilly sells tirzepatide as Mounjaro in the EU for...

Global drugmakers are scrambling to shore up their U.S. manufacturing capacity and domestic inventory as the Trump administration weighs hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical imports into the country. Companies with more exposure to the UK, the EU, South Korea and Japan are likely on better footing as these countries have secured favorable agreements capping tariffs at around 15%. But with many countries still engaged in trade talks with the U.S., businesses around the world are hedging their decisions pending more clarity on final tariff rates.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus was confirmed in poultry at a premises in southwestern England, the UK government said on Sunday. A 3 km (about 2 miles) protection zone and 10 km surveillance zone have been declared around the premises near Exminster in Devon, the government said, adding that "all poultry on the premises will be humanely culled."

More than 1 billion people are living with mental health disorders, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), with conditions such as anxiety and depression inflicting immense human and economic tolls. While many countries have bolstered their mental health policies and programmes, greater investment and action are needed globally to scale up services to protect and promote people’s mental health. Mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in all countries and communities, affecting people of all ages and income levels. They represent the second biggest reason for long-term disability, contributing to loss of healthy life. They drive up health-care costs for affected people and families while inflicting substantial economic losses on a global scale. The new findings published in two reports – World mental health today and Mental Health Atlas 2024 – highlight some areas of progress while exposing significant gaps in addressing mental health conditions worldwide. The reports serve as critical tools to inform national strategies and shape global dialogue ahead of the 2025 United Nations High-Level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases and promotion of mental health and well-being, taking place in New York on 25 September 2025. “Transforming mental health services is one...

Nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Republican and Democratic presidents warned on Monday that the decisions made by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., culminating in the firing of the CDC's director, are putting Americans' health at risk. The warning, laid out in a guest opinion essay in the New York Times, comes days after the Trump administration fired Susan Monarez, less than a month into her tenure and four other directors resigned in protest, deepening disarray at the nation's main public health agency. Monarez had refused to adopt new limitations on the availability of some vaccines urged by Kennedy, saying they went against scientific evidence. The nine essay authors, who include Dr. William Foege, who served as director of the CDC from 1977-1983 to Dr. Mandy Cohen, who led the agency from 2023 to 2025, said all of Kennedy's moves to shake up U.S. federal health agencies, from firing thousands of employees to replacing health advisory board members to ending global vaccination programs, put all Americans at risk. "We are worried about the wide-ranging impact that all these decisions will have on America's health security," they wrote, adding that rural communities...

Some Chinese companies now racing to make generic versions of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy also supplied ingredients for more than a billion makeshift doses of weight-loss drugs sold online in the U.S. over the past two years, according to three sources and a Reuters review of shipping and public records. Cheap copies of Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound are on the retreat in the U.S. as regulators restrict their sale, slowing shipments from Chinese suppliers of the raw ingredients that allowed for explosive growth of the medicines. Robert Califf, who had two stints leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said never before had a new drug become so wildly popular that the manufacturer simply couldn’t keep up. The shortage opened the door for compounding pharmacies, turbocharged by telehealth firms that flourished during the COVID pandemic, to supply cheap copies to a huge market chasing the promised weight loss. The pivot to FDA-approved generics as patents expire in various countries follows a year of soaring demand for the branded drugs, which have been shown to help people shed as much as 20% of their weight. At least eight Chinese companies, including publicly traded Jiangsu Sinopep-Allsino Biopharmaceutical and Hybio Pharmaceutical, helped flood the U.S. with raw...