An indigenous drug, developed by scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, which can remove toxic phosphorous from the body of a patient with chronic kidney failure, has been awarded a process patent. Sevelamer Hcl, the oral medicine is a gel-like substance which swells up within the body and binds the phosphorous. It then exits the body through faeces. The drug was developed by organic chemist and IIT-M professor S Sankararaman along with Madras Institute of Nephrology (MIN).<br/><br/>For the first time in recent years, Madras High Court has recorded a significant fall in number of pending cases despite a spate of boycotts in the wake of the violence on the campus in February 2009. As against the previous year’s pendency of 4,51,496 cases, the court finished 2009 with a figure of 4,31,390 – a decline of nearly 20,000 cases. Strict norms for admission of new cases, induction of new judges and increase in court working hours by 15 minutes daily are the reasons for the reversal of the trend .