> Questions in the Indian parliament as to whether Indian regulators have a handle on substandard and counterfeit pharmaceuticals being made there prompted a minister to report that in the first half of 2011, 5.5% of the 26,000 drugs tested were substandard. Story
> The FDA has filed a document with the Federal Register reiterating its estimate that electronic registration of drug manufacturers and their products, and the additional information sought, should add an average burden of only 4½ hours to the process. It will accept comments, made by fax, until April 25. Filing
> Creating a new wrinkle for cosmetics manufacturers, the director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition told a House subcommittee that so-called "cosmeceuticals" that contain active ingredients like retinol may need to be regulated like drugs. Story
> Members from both parties in Congress have filed a new bill that would speed FDA approvals, this time for so-called breakthrough drugs, any drug aimed at serious conditions or diseases where preliminary clinical trials indicate a substantial improvement over existing therapies. Story
> Novasep says it is opening a 2,000 square meter facility in Shanghai to expand production of its purification technologies and integrated processes in batch and continuous membrane filtration, ion exchange and chromatography. Story