Health activists have welcomed a decision by India’s highest court not to grant a patent to a drugs manufacturer in a case campaigners say will help safeguard the ability of people around the world to afford life-saving medicine.

Mounting shareholder anger over executive pay in Switzerland forced drugmaker Novartis today to scrap a Swfr72 million (£50 million) “golden gag” it was proposing to pay its departing chairman.

A vaccine against meningitis B that could save thousands of lives has been licensed in the UK and Europe, it was announced yesterday.

Nine leukemia patients are cancer-free after being treated with genetically-altered versions of their own immune cells, giving strength to a promising new approach for treating the blood cancer.

Hundreds of children’s lives will be saved - if the NHS can afford to give new jab to babies

An anti-blindness injection that a rival drugs manufacturer wants to prevent the NHS from using could save the health service £84m a year.

Independent experts have condemned the Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis for trying to force the NHS to buy an expensive drug to treat patients suffering from a degenerative eye disease, rather than using a cheaper, unlicensed alternative.

Novartis has announced plans to cut around 2,000 jobs, with its Swiss and US operations bearing the brunt of the move.

The possible discovery of flowing water on Mars is yet another example of how science fiction is becoming science fact. And it's not just in outer space.

Health campaigners have expressed disappointment after the medicines watchdog rejected the first pill to treat multiple sclerosis.

The market for exchange traded derivatives – which are different from the over-the-counter variety traded directly between two parties – has seen strong growth in recent times. Earlier this year, a report from the World Federation of Exchanges, an industry association whose membership features 52 exchanges around the world, showed that, despite the impact of the global financial crisis, trading in derivatives on regulated exchanges surged by 25 per cent in 2010.

As the top-tier index moved above the 6,000-point level for the first time in nearly eight weeks, Reckitt Benckiser was pushed forwards last night after the re-emergence of speculation that the Cillit Bang manufacturer could be in line for an approach.