17-Feb-16 The Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia has granted Abbott approval for its new glucose monitoring system, FreeStyle Libre. The technology removes the need for finger pricks and monitors glucose levels through a device worn on the back of the arm and secured by an adhesive pad. A handheld reader is scanned over the sensor to get a glucose result. [image: Abbott]

17-Feb-16 Bausch + Lomb has entered a partnership in India with global technology company Bosch. This cooperation brings together leading providers of eye care solutions and technology in India, to market diagnostic devices in the ophthalmic segment. Bausch + Lomb will market Bosch's Fundus retina camera, which can detect conditions such as cataract at an early stage. [image: Bausch & Lomb]

15-Feb-16 Nearly 1,900 services and products at Vietnam's public hospitals will become around 30% more expensive in Mar-16. The new tariff regime will see patients pay for items that were previously government subsidised, such as power, water, equipment maintenance, waste treatment, training, research and more. [image: Thanhnien.vn]

15-Feb-16 China plans to consolidate its huge and fragmented drug market and will support a greater role for traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). China is a major lure for drug firms targeting growth driven by rising incomes and a fast-ageing population. Beijing is keen, however, for local firms to take a larger slice of the market. [image: Reuters / Aly Song]

12-Feb-16 Foreigners will be allowed to own a majority of up to 67% of businesses in Indonesia's healthcare sector, as part of sweeping reforms to liberalise its economy. Sectors ranging from fishery to retail - 49 in all - will be affected, with non-citizens able to take up 100% holdings in pharmaceutical raw material manufacturing firms. [image: AFP]