Charan Singh

Inclusion complex of erlotinib with sulfobutyl ether-β-cyclodextrin: Preparation, characterization, in silico, in vitro and in vivo evaluation

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of erlotinib sulfobutyl ether beta-cyclodextrin complex (ERL-SBE-β-CD) on ERL dissolution rate and oral bioavailability. Preliminary comparative phase solubility study indicated ERL exhibited maximum solubility in SBE-β-CD solution. Optimal experimental design confirmed freeze drying of SBE-β-CD:ERL in 1:1.05 molar ratio as the optimum method. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), powder X-ray diffractometry (PXRD), proton nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) and two-dimensional rotating-frame Overhauser effect spectroscopy (2D ROESY NMR) confirmed the inclusion complexation. The in silico computational study, employed to analyze the comparative interactions of ERL with SBE-β-CD and β-CD, indicated ease of ERL-SBE-β-CD complexation. In vitro dissolution and in vivo bioavailability studies further confirmed the ERL-SBE-β-CD as a valuable approach to enhance ERL oral bioavailability with 3.6-fold increase in relative oral bioavailability with higher Cmax (134.29 ± 36.51 vs. 42.36 ± 1.75 μg/ml) and AUC0-∞ (2103.47 ± 156.75 vs.580.43 ± 71.91 μg/ml h) over the free drug. The complex exhibited 3.2-fold increase in Cmax with 5.4-fold decrease in Tmax (0.5 ± 0.2 vs. 2.7 ± 0.8h) in comparison to pure ERL. Thus, ERL-SBE-β-CD complexation exhibits a potential to enhance oral bioavailability of ERL leading to reduce dose and dose-related side effects.

Folic acid functionalized long-circulating co-encapsulated docetaxel and curcumin solid lipid nanoparticles: In vitro evaluation, pharmacokinetic and biodistribution in rats

Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop folic acid functionalized long-circulating co-encapsulated docetaxel (DTX) and curcumin (CRM) solid lipid nanoparticles (F-DC-SLN) to improve the pharmacokinetic and efficacy of DTX therapy. F-DC-SLN was prepared by hot melt-emulsification method and optimized by face centered-central composite design (FC-CCD). The SLN was characterized in terms of size and size distribution, drug entrapment efficiency and release profile. The cytotoxicity and cell uptake of the SLN formulations were evaluated in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. The in vivo pharmacokinetic and biodistribution were studied in Wistar rats. F-DC-SLN exhibited 247.5 ± 3.40 nm particle size with 73.88 ± 1.08% entrapment efficiency and zeta potential of 14.53 ± 3.6 mV. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed spherical morphology of the SLN. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed the targeting efficacy of F-DC-SLN in MCF-7 cells. F-DC-SLN exhibited a significant increase in area under the curve (594.21 ± 64.34 versus 39.05 ± 7.41 μg/mL h) and mean residence time (31.14 ± 19.94 versus 7.24 ± 4.51 h) in comparison to Taxotere®. In addition, decreased DTX accumulation from F-DC-SLN in the heart and kidney in comparison to Taxotere may avoid to toxicity these vital organs. In conclusion, the F-DC-SLN improved the efficacy and pharmacokinetic profile of DTX exhibiting enhanced potential in optimizing breast cancer therapy.

Corporate Bond Markets in India: A Study and Policy Recommendations

Vibrant, deep and robust corporate bond markets are essential to enhance stability of financial system of a country, mitigate financial crises and support the credit needs of corporate sector, which is vital for the growth of an economy. Our review of research and policy papers on the corporate debt markets in India reveals a persistent absence of an efficient, liquid and vibrant corporate debt market in India. Our paper seeks to flag this issue and help to fast track the development of the corporate bond markets in India. Recent trends reinforce the need for strong policy measures to develop the corporate debt markets in India. A study of corporate bond market experiences across developed and emerging markets such as US, EU, Japan, China, Malaysia, Korea and New Zealand further underscores the importance of strong institutional and regulatory framework, along with support from policymakers for building robust corporate debt markets. A review of literature and an analysis of key trends in corporate debt market help us identify the issues with the three pillars of corporate debt markets – institution and regulators, market participants, and instruments. We find that this lack of depth and efficiency in the corporate debt market is mainly explained by inadequate infrastructure, illiquidity, regulatory gaps, limited investor and issuer base, and absence of benchmark yield curve across maturities. Finally, we apply the insights from literature review, the trend analysis and cross-country study to make recommendations to revive the Indian corporate debt markets. The recommendations span areas such as taxation, legal and regulatory, public policy, market micro structures, corporate laws, and banking regulations.

Financial Inclusion in India: Select Issues

As the majority of the rural population is still not included in the inclusive growth, the concept of financial inclusion becomes a challenge for the Indian economy. Since 2005, many concerted measures are initiated by the Reserve Bank of India and Government of India in favor of financial inclusion but the impact of these did not yield satisfactory results. The paper aims to focus on utilizing the existing resources such as Mobile phones, Banking Technologies, India Post Office, Fair Price Shops and Business Correspondents (BCs) thereby making it more efficient and user friendly for the interest of the rural population as well as the formal sector.

Inflation Targeting in India

The adoption of inflation targeting in India has been a much debated topic which also becomes a challenge for an emerging economy. Though inflation targeting has already been adopted in some emerging and advanced countries, successful implementation would be a concern. The paper argues that an emerging country like India needs to consider the composition of consumer price index; state of macro econometric models; and young demographics, unemployment rate and lack of social security before adopting inflation targeting. To modernize the monetary policy framework, India could consider introducing regular review of the regional economy; instituting a monetary policy committee; and separating debt from monetary management, the paper argues.

Religion and Economic Growth: Elements from Sikhism

The Sikh religion is one of the most recent religions of the world, which originated during the late fifteenth century and finally formalized in early eighteenth century. There is limited material available in English on Sikh religion and its impact on economic growth. In this article, an attempt has been made to examine the important issues mentioned above in the context of Sikh religion and their impact on economic growth. The emphasis is on education, rational thinking, long term planning, modest consumption, high investment, self-employment, and employment generation. In all the pursuits of economic well-being, the guiding principle has to be meditation, honest work and sharing with others the fruit of hard labor.

Stressed Assets and Banking in India

Stressed assets have been rising rapidly in India, mainly in public sector banks. A number of factors can be identified that have led to this situation. These include global slow down, governance related issues, political factors as well as mal-intentions and misconduct. Consequently, significant losses are incurred by the public as well as the Union Government which basically owns public sector banks. The chances of misconduct are substantially large in case of infrastructure project especially under public private partnership. There is need to take this opportunity to undertake extensive research into the factors which have led to deteriorating asset quality in public sector banks.

Money, Output and Prices in India

The dynamics of the monetary system is undergoing significant changes in India. The entire concept and flow of money; narrow, broad or base, is being influenced by measures related to financial inclusion and also behavioural changes with respect to the increase in usage of plastic money and other payment methods. Given this context, the paper aims to re-examine relationship between money supply, output and prices in the short and long-term. Different metrics for money, output and prices are used to understand the relationship between each. Variables to understand food inflation is especially used considering the fact that food prices are less income elastic and are viewed differently by citizens. The findings indicate that the relationship is sensitive to the choice of variable.

Universal Pension Scheme in India

Old age social security plays a pivotal role in a welfare state and one of the major components of old age social security is pension. The developed countries generally provide pension to those who contribute for pension whereas in majority of the developing countries pensions are provided in a discretionary manner which reduces the coverage of pension. India is no exception to this phenomenon and has a low coverage of pension too. The paper proposes a universal pension scheme that will bring relief to the working population in the unorganized sector and argues that it will increase the coverage of pension without disturbing the fiscal situation. The main purpose of pensions is smoothening of consumption and mitigating longevity risks, poverty and inter-intra generation inequality. Universal pension scheme would do this successfully for citizens in country.

Financial Inclusion of the Disabled

India has made concerted efforts since 1955 and more specifically since August 2014 to achieve financial inclusion. While the results are encouraging for general public there has been no effective improvement in situation of people with disability. The study attempts to analyse the efforts, and to understand challenges in India for extending banking facilities to disabled. India, a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in effect from May 2008, has an international obligation to comply with the convention which promotes, defends and reinforces human rights of the disabled. As we enter the 10th year of compliance to one of the most comprehensive human’s right treaty of the 21st century, India needs to consider and analyze its efforts.