Latest-generation Western Apomorphine Therapy Devices for Parkinson’s Patients Launched in Bengaluru

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* This is for the first time that advanced, third-generation apomorphine pumps and pens used in Western countries, manufactured by German pharma major Ever Pharma, have been introduced in India by Celera Neuro Sciences
* These latest European drug-delivery devices are miles ahead of current apomorphine pumps available in India, which are unreliable and patient-unfriendly
* Apomorphine therapy offers an effective treatment option for various stages of Parkinson’s Disease. It can also be an alternative to DBS surgery which involves drilling holes in the patient’s skull and is unaffordable for most patients
* Celera Neuro Sciences is opening clinics in hospitals all over India in collaboration with prominent neurologists to administer apomorphine therapy to patients with these latest-generation Western pumps and pens

BENGALURU / March 5, 2021 : In a boon to patients of Parkinson’s Disease, advanced third-generation D-mine apomorphine pumps and pens (injections) manufactured by German pharma major Ever Pharma have been launched in Bengaluru by Celera Neuro Sciences.

The state-of-the-art apomorphine-delivery devices, widely used in Europe, were unveiled by Dr. K Sudhakar, Hon’ble Minister of Medical Education & Health, Govt. of Karnataka, at the ongoing symposium on Parkinson’s Disease in Bengaluru, organized by King’s College London (KCL) and Parkinson’s Research Alliance of India (PRAI).

Said Dr. K Sudhakar, Hon’ble Minister of Medical Education and Health, Govt. of Karnataka: “Considering the rising patient population of Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders in India, it is important to focus on technology and research for treatment solutions. Karnataka has a phenomenal healthcare and medical education ecosystem. We now need to increase investments in medical research. We want this collaboration between King’s College London (KCL) and Parkinson’s Research Alliance of India (PRAI) on Parkinson’s disease to be successful and will provide support in every possible way. I would like the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences to align with this great research initiative. We would provide not only professors, but also funds for this important research program on Parkinson’s. I would also like to allocate some funds for treatment of Parkinson’s patients in Karnataka out of the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust. This will be announced shortly by us after discussions.”

Said Dr. Babu Narayanan, Medical Director, Celera Neuro Sciences which has brought the products to India after getting DCGI approval: “Parkinson’s patients in India till now had only two options: oral pills for early stages of the disease, or Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery for advanced stages. There was no other treatment available. These latest-generation European apomorphine-delivery devices fill this gap and offer an important medical option in the management of Parkinson’s Disease and improving quality of life. They ensure much better outcomes for patients who haven’t achieved optimum benefits with available drugs or are suffering from side-effects of oral medications.”

Said Bengaluru’s renowned Parkinson’s Disease specialist Dr. Prashanth LK: “India is emerging as a hot spot for Parkinson’s disease. Unlike most ageing-related disorders, Parkinson’s has many effective treatment options available. Apomorphine infusion therapies and rescue injections (pens) are the current state-of-the-art therapies for people with moderately advanced Parkinson’s disease. The PRAI-KCL collaboration has helped bring these advanced German devices to India for apomorphine therapy. These can be used as rescue therapies in people having unpredictable responses to oral medications, or as an infusion therapy for those requiring steady phase medication responses.”
Added Dr. Babu Narayanan: “Most patients in India cannot afford DBS. This procedure is also not a choice for all ages or stages of Parkinson’s Disease. Apomorphine is recommended for patients who have started to have motor fluctuations, which means the effect of oral medications is not lasting long enough. It is also an effective alternative for patients who are not the right candidates for DBS, or those who want to avoid surgery. In fact, international guidelines now recommend use of apomorphine therapy before considering DBS for patients. We are now in the process of opening clinics in hospitals all over India in collaboration with prominent neurologists who will administer apomorphine therapy to patients with these latest-generation Western pumps and pens.”
The current apomorphine pumps available in India are not patient-friendly and lack reliability. For example, patients need to refill them after breaking up to 20 ampules of apomorphine, which is difficult to do with trembling hands. In contrast, the third-generation D-mine apomorphine pumps, widely used in Europe, can be self-handled by patients in five easy steps, with much less patient training needed. The pump-filling process is controlled electronically, with much higher safety and convenience, compared to pumps which are operated manually, with cumbersome procedures. D-mine pumps are pre-filled and offer continuous infusion of apomorphine, leading to absorption within five minutes. The oral pill burden of patients also comes down substantially.
Parkinson’s patients need to take medications at timely intervals, which often leads to fluctuating levels of medication in their bodies and irregular benefits. Continuous Dopaminergic Therapy is a method by which the body receives dopamine on a continuous basis, because of which fluctuations associated with medications are negated significantly. With the launch of D-mine apomorphine continuous-infusion pumps and injection pens, Indian patients can now benefit from Continuous Dopaminergic Therapy, which till now was available only in Western countries.
The current prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease in India is around 300-400 out of 100,000, which is expected to double by 2030. It will be a major non-communicable degenerative disorder along with dementia to burden the healthcare system of India. Though majority of the patients are above 50 years of age, its incidence in younger population is also on the rise.

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WayCool Makes Its Debut Farmers can use the Ai-powered Outgrow app.

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WayCool Launches Ai powered Outgrow app for Farmers

• A comprehensive and personalized solutions platform, available in 6 languages
• Tamil/ Kannada/ Telugu /Hindi/ Marathi & English
• Key utilities featured are Mandi prices, Automated Soil Labs, Crop health
• App to be made available Free of cost to Farmers
• Aims to enable small, medium and marginalized farmers to increase their income and profitability through using Artificial Intelligence, advanced analytics, and encourage natural farming

Bangalore , March 04, 2022: WayCool Foods, India’s fastest growing Agri-commerce company, today launched its next-gen Ai powered ‘Outgrow App’. The App will provide comprehensive advisory and personalized solutions in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, and English languages. With the Outgrow App, WayCool aims to assist small, medium, and marginalized farmers to increase their income and profitability. The app during its launch phase will support farmers based in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana offering a boutique of services, Mandi prices, Automated Soil Testing facilities, Crop Health.

Outgrow-WayCool’s flagship agriculture extension program has been assisting farmers on ground for over 3 years now. Farmers associated with Outgrow program, have witnessed a 20% – 40% increase in their income. As the company scales this model through tech, it is aiming to impact the lives of over 5 million farmers. Through this next gen Outgrow App, WayCool is bringing the best of agricultural practices and its learning in an intuitive and easy manner for farmers to consume at a touch of a button.

Mr. Sendhil Kumar, Head Farmer Engagement & Outgrow, WayCool Foods said. “Today, a farmer depends on multiple platforms and at times is overexposed to unsolicited advisory sources. We are bringing all basic Farm inputs under one roof, backing it up with scientific tools, and in their own language. Outgrow App is a go-to-platform for real-time Mandi prices, crop health, automated soil testing, and holistic farm advisory on fingertips. We are also planning to add financial assistance services, farm inputs, procurement services to the app in subsequent phases. Farmers can download the Outgrow APP for free from google play store”.

Mr. Karthik Jayaraman,  Managing Director, WayCool Foods

Elaborating on the launch, Mr. Karthik Jayaraman, Managing Director, WayCool Foods said, “This is a major step towards our mission to build the World’s most comprehensive tech stack in the food economy. We have built a strong network of 85000+ farmers, and over three years we demonstrated to a lot of farmers on how they can increase their income and profitability through natural farming and regenerative agricultural practices. As an impact organization, we strongly focus on increasing rural income. Food Supply Chain starts with farmers, and hence they are the most important stakeholders in the ecosystem. We will keep pushing boundaries when it comes to deploying deep tech and analytics to empower small and medium farmers who are deprived of access to the latest tech. Outgrow App will lessen the digital divide that exists today”.

Salient Features of the Outgrow APP

Easy and Multilingual: Outgrow App has enhanced User Interface and User experience-rich text and easy to understand infographics. This will make farmers engage with the app in a better way. The App is also available in 6 languages namely English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. It enables small and medium-scale farmers to avail information and services much easier. Farmers can read and interact with the app in their own mother tongue.

Real-Time Mandi Prices: This is a unique feature where Mandi prices are updated on the APP on real time basis. A team of over 100 is deputed on-ground to update prices from respective Mandis. This enables farmers to have mandi prices handy and helps them in planning the sale of their produce. Outgrow app has intuitive graphs that can help farmers to understand the fluctuations in prices, and track trends.

Crop Health: Pest, and Disease Management: Outgrow is now much wiser in identifying the pest and diseases and suggesting precautions and cures for wide varieties of crops using artificial intelligence. The APP is equipped with 500+ pest and disease prevention and cure information, which enables farmers to understand the pest/disease and take appropriate action. Farmer can also avail detailed crop information of around 100+ crops. This feature enables information and guidance from soil preparation to harvesting.

Automated Soil Test: Now, farmers don’t have to wait for weeks and queue up at soil testing labs. The Outgrow app provides farmers with access to automated soil testing labs from any part of the country. Once the test is booked on the APP, the GPS enabled system will show them the nearest lab location. The farmer just needs to send the sample to the nearest lab, and the report will be sent directly on farmers mobile App.

Chatbot with an expert: Farmers can avail instant assistance for Agronomists. They can get advisory through IVR (Interactive voice response), Text Chat and, Voice Chat in 6 languages. These options will ease farmers connection to the Agri experts and interact in their mother tongue.

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BMS Hospital Trust Celebrates “10th Year Founder’s Day”

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BMS Hospital Trust organized 10th Year Founder’s Day Celebration and Inauguration of New Block at BMS Hospital Premises. The program started with lighting the Lamp by higher ups of BMS Hospital Trust.

The Program has Mrs. Sunitha’s Invocation and Dr. Vishal narrated the progress of the Hospital. Sri. Ravi Subramanya, MLA, Basavanagudi, Dr. B.S. Ragini Narayan, Life Trustee, Sri. Gautham V Kalathur, Chairman and Sri. Aviram Sharma, Trustee, who graced the occasion. All BMS Education Trust officials and invitees are gathered in the Program.

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Bengaluru gynaecologist to perform live keyhole surgeries on women for national audience

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# The surgeries, to be conducted by renowned laparoscopic surgeon Dr. Vidya V Bhat, will be livestreamed to over 3,000 gynaecologists in the run-up to International Women’s Day
* The medical education workshop is being conducted in partnership with Zydus Nutriva
* The objective is to encourage gynaecologists to opt for laparoscopic hysterectomy (removal of uterus) and myomectomy (removal of fibroids) for women patients due to their immense benefits over open-abdomen surgery

BENGALURU / March 3, 2022: Bengaluru’s renowned laparoscopic surgeon and infertility specialist Dr. Vidya V Bhat, Medical Director, RadhaKrishna Multispecialty Hospital, is going to conduct keyhole surgeries on women patients on March 6, 2022, which will be broadcast live to over 3,000 gynaecologists all over India. The objective is to encourage surgeons to opt for laparoscopic surgeries for women patients for the removal of uterus and uterine fibroids, due to the immense benefits these offer over open-abdomen surgeries. The day-long medical education workshop is being organized in partnership with Zydus Nutriva ahead of the International Women’s Day.

Dr. Vidya V Bhat will be conducting live laparoscopic hysterectomy and myomectomy on camera for the national audience of doctors. She said: “With advancements in medical technology, laparoscopic (keyhole) surgeries offer much better outcome than open-abdomen surgeries for removal of uterus and fibroids growing in the womb. It is important that laparoscopy becomes the norm and every woman gets benefitted in terms of lesser pain, scaring and wound complications, less cutting of skin and tissue, shorter duration of hospital stay and faster post-operative recovery.”

She added: “Laparoscopic removal of uterus or fibroids uses specialized skill and surgical instruments inserted through tiny incisions in the abdomen, eliminating the need for traditional open surgery. The success of these advanced procedures depends on the experience and expertise of the surgeon. The idea behind this live session is to enhance the skills of surgeons, especially young ones, so that laparoscopic surgeries become common alternative to traditional surgeries. They can watch these surgeries done live from the comfort of their homes.”

Laparoscopic hysterectomy is a minimally invasive procedure in which the entire uterus (womb) is removed, mostly due to the presence of fibroids. Laparoscopic fibroid removal (myomectomy) is a minimally invasive procedure to remove uterine fibroids, which are non-cancerous growths in a woman’s uterus. The surgeon’s goal during myomectomy is to take out they fibroids and reconstruct the uterus. Unlike a hysterectomy, which removes the entire uterus, a myomectomy removes only the fibroids growing inside it. The procedure can help relieve uterine fibroid symptoms such as abnormally heavy menstrual bleeding, pain in the pelvic region, and pressure on the bladder or bowel. Uterine fibroids are very common. About 35-60% of women develop some fibroids by age 35, with the numbers going up to 70-80% by age 50.

Laparoscopic surgery, also known as keyhole surgery, is now the preferred way to remove the organs and surrounding tissues of the reproductive system. During the procedure, a small tube containing a telescope (laparoscope) and a tiny video camera is inserted through a small cut (incision) in the abdomen. This allows the surgeon to see the internal organs. Instruments are then inserted through other small incisions in the abdomen or vagina to remove the womb, cervix or any other part of your female reproductive system.

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E-cigarettes are being advertised through Instagram despite ban reveals survey

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Promotional activities of these products seen on Instagram, Whatsapp,Facebook, TikTok, Twitter
E-cigarettes/HTP/ENDS products are available via paan shops & online retailers despite being banned

India, 2nd March 2022: Youth across the country are reporting limited use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and heated tobacco products (HTN) since their ban in 2019 in India. But they have noticed promotional activities for these products on Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.
These findings were revealed by a national survey conducted in February 2022 by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in collaboration with Chair on Consumer Law and Practice, National Law School India University to assess use, accessibility, and marketing exposure for E-Cigarette, Heated Tobacco products (HTN) and other Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) after these were banned in India September 2019.

A total of 4,049 young adults in the age group of 18-35 were engaged to understand their use of and access to these products since their effective ban in November 2019. 94% of respondents have never used e-cigarette or other ENDS. Only 4% reported using e-cigarette or other ENDS since the ban came into force. Those using the products said they are using e-cigarettes/HTN/ENDS products for social reasons (50%), followed by liking for the flavors (27%), and need to replace/reduce use of a tobacco product (24%).
Survey findings reveal that 26% of the respondents noticed some form of marketing on social media platforms which shows continued targeting of youth through these channels. Of the 26%, nearly 60% of them saw ads on Instagram, WhatsApp (22.6%), Facebook (17.3%), TikTok (14.3%), and Twitter (6.8%). In-person promotional events were noticed by 22.6%. The products are being sold and promoted as harm reduction products especially amongst youth, through social media, and web portals.
Commenting on the use of accessibility and marketing exposure for ENDS products, Ms. Vandana Shah, Regional Director, South Asia Program, CTFK said, “Countries around the world have been looking to India’s comprehensive ban on e-cigarettes/HTPs as a regulatory model but have expressed some skepticism about effectiveness. The results of this national survey are very encouraging with over 90% of youth reporting that they have never used these novel products. But continued vigilance is needed to safeguard youth from increased marketing through social media channels.”
According to the survey, Karnataka (38.1%) emerged as the most prominent state in terms of accessibility of these products followed by Maharashtra (12.4%), Tamil Nadu (9.3%), Uttar Pradesh (6.7%) and Kerala (6.5%). The prominent source of purchasing e-cigarette is paan shop or Indian online retailers despite these products being banned in the country.
“By banning these novel products in India, the intention of the government was clear to protect the youth from initiating use of these addictive products. The survey findings reiterate the need for stronger enforcement to check the availability of these banned products in India. Regular monitoring should be conducted of the advertising content on social media platforms. Offending companies should be held accountable and strict action should be taken against them to deter them from luring young impressionable minds,” said Prof (Dr) Ashok Patil, Professor of Law, National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

According to Mr. Arjun Singal, Student, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, “Students easily adopt things as fashion if they see something trending more in the social media. E-cigarettes are being sold and promoted through electronic platforms as students are major users of smartphones, computers, e-commerce, and social media. Students being vulnerable, are easily becoming victims to the conspiracies of tobacco companies. It is worrisome that despite the enactment of the E-cigarettes Act, we are seeing sale and promotion of e-cigarettes in the market including social media.”

In September 2019, the Indian government announced a complete ban on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), popularly referred to as electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, citing the potential health risks of e-cigarettes on the youth. The ban includes a complete ban on production, manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale (including online sale), distribution or advertising (including online advertising) of e-cigarettes. India is home to the second largest number of tobacco users (268 million) in the world, and of these 13 lakhs die every year from tobacco related diseases. 27% of all cancers in India are due to tobacco usage.

Survey methodology:
To arrive at these insights, data was collected through an online questionnaire using convenience sampling between January – February 2022. A total of 4,049 responses were collected from 23 National Law Universities, private law universities and colleges, student bar associations located throughout India. 92% of the respondents surveyed were in the age of 18-34 years, 80% between 18-24 years. 46% male and 51% of female participated in the study.

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