Pharmexcil organises technical seminars
The 5th edition of iPHEX (International Pharma and Healthcare Exhibition) recently concluded in Hyderabad. The three-day event was organised by Pharmexcil, under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. KT Rama Rao, Minister for Information Technology, Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Government of Telangana, inaugurated the exhibition.
Agyemang-Manu Kwaku, Minister for Health, Government of Ghana was the Guest of Honour. CEOs of top pharma companies also attended the inaugural ceremony.
Ravi Udaybhaskar, Director General, Pharmexcil said, “Today, India is largely dependent on China, in respect to intermediates and key starting materials (KSMs) and few APIs. We are 100 per cent dependent on manufacturing some of the intermediates to APIs. If these imports stops abruptly, we are not in a position to manufacture some of the antibiotics which are in the NLEM list and other categories as well. In this connection, we have developed a strategy to reduce the dependency on import from China and we move into a direction to manufacture these intermediates and KSMs to make India self reliant. Pharmexcil for the first time under the guidance of Ministry of Commerce and Industry is closely working with CSIR Labs, Bulk Drugs Manufacturers Association (BDMA) and other research institutes and universities, to create a dialogue between industry and academia.”
He further said, “Since the past two to three months, we had meetings with scientists, industry associations like Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), BDMA and other eminent scientists who are heading the industry in their field.”
Udaybhaskar also informed that a ‘Think Tank’ has been created which represents members from these associations. Lanka Sriniwas, Senior Advisor, Pharmexcil and Dr Chandra Sekhar, Director IICT have been appointed as the mentors to the ‘Think Tank’.
Pharmexcil also organised technical conferences on three subjects mainly International Regulations – An Overview and Challenges, International Procurement Practices in Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines and Strengthening of APIs and Intermediates in-house. The objective of the seminars were to understand the updated drug regulations in India and overseas countries, awareness about inspection procedures and how to prepare for audits.
Dr Eswara Reddy, Joint Drug Controller (I) and Dr K Bangarurajan, Dy Drugs Controller (I) made presentations on ‘Regulatory Updates in India’. Senior officials of FDAs of Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia, Ethiopia, Egypt, also made presentations about drug registrations/ regulation procedures of their respective countries.
SM Mudda, Executive Director, Micro Labs, made a presentation on ‘Changing Regulatory Practices and Suggestions for successful audit/ inspection. Anand Iyer, UL Enduneering, USA presented his views on audit practices and preparedness – facing audits.
Dr Harish Iyer, Senior Advisor, Scientific Programs, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made a presentation on ‘Procurement Practices – Ensuring access to Vaccines and ARVs. Venkat Raman, Head-Exports, Bharat Biotech also made a presentation on ‘International Procurement Practices for Vaccines: Challenges & Opportunities in Exports. Parag Nagarkar, Associate Vice President, Sanofi spoke about ‘International Procurement Practices for vaccines – Regulatory Challenges.
Lanka Srinivas, Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB, Dr Dinesh Abrol, Secretary General, Delhi Science Forum, Prof Reddanna, Dean, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, made detailed presentations and actively participated in the panel discussions.
Sponsored buyers and exhibitors meetings were organised during the three-day event. Over 550 pharmaceutical buyers, importers, manufacturers, regulators, journalists, associations etc., from 95 countries across the globe attended the event. 290 Indian companies with took part in the event.