Heena Sharma Blog

Jennie Wilklow's daughter Anna has a strange condition. Minutes after she was born via C-section, the newborn's skin began to thicken and crack, creating fissures across her body. Speaking to People magazine, Wilklow said that out of the womb, her daughter's skin became dry and hard, like armour. Wilklow remembers the shock among hospital staff as Anna's eyes swelled shut and circulation in her hand and feet were cut off. It turns out that Anna was born with harlequin ichthyosis, a rare condition that causes newborns to form thick plates of skin, according to the First Skin Foundation . According to experts, the hardening of the skin can dramatically affect an infant's appearance and cause their lips and eyelids to turn inside out. The condition further creates constriction around their chest and makes it difficult to breathe and eat. Read More Business Standard

Last month, Strand Life Sciences, a Bengaluru-based specialty diagnostic company, bought the India operations of US-based medical diagnostic company, Quest Diagnostic. The takeover created ripples in the medical diagnostic industry in India. Quest had set shop some ten years ago and has an established routine testing business with many corporate clients. Strand is actually a spinoff from IISc Bangalore as a bioinformatics company. It bought out HCG’s diagnostic business in January, with a focus on oncology testing and now with Quest, it is emerging as a sophisticated end-to-end operator. The Quest acquisition offers a new service line, of routine testing, which is 80-90 per cent of the diagnostic market. The deal could make Strand a leader in the testing business. “Quest's corporate wellness testing and women health segments are stronger than ours. Our oncology, advanced diagnostics and genomics are stronger. Quest was stronger in the north, we are strong in the sout...