World Bank claims two Indian Rx firms "colluded"

The World Bank has published a review of five health care projects in India, arguing that there is evidence of fraud on the part of contractors and that two Indian drugmakers, Nestor Pharmaceuticals and Pure Pharma, engaged in "collusive practices." A report in the Hindustan Times notes that the former President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz (who subsequently quit in a corruption scandal), ordered the suspension of funding for the projects in late 2006. Both Nestor and Pure Pharma were barred from having business contacts with the World Bank, the paper added.