Express Pharma hosts maiden Baddi Pharma Summit
Industry stakeholders in the city congregate to converse on the role of pharma hubs like Baddi in India Pharma Inc’s growth saga
Lakshmipriya Nair/Mumbai
Express Pharma recently organised a conference for the stakeholders of the pharma industry in Baddi. Industry leaders and experts in the city came together to initiate discussions which will spur the sector to loftier positions at the inaugural edition of the Baddi Pharma Summit. The event is yet another step by Express Pharma to facilitate knowledge-sharing in different pharma hubs of the country to optimise their potential and pave the path for the sector’s continued progress.
After an auspicious lamp-lighting ceremony, Sushant Sharma, Assistant Drugs Controller, CDSCO, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI took the stage to deliver the Chief Guest’s Address. Informing that every third tablet and second vaccine in the world is manufactured in India, he highlighted why we are the ‘Pharmacy of the World,’ and the huge responsibility we shoulder in making the world a healthier place. Emphasising on the need to pay utmost importance to regulatory compliance and quality, he said the industry should take care to not make any mistakes which would hurt its goal and repute. He also pointed out the need for improved communication between the industry players and regulatory authorities to plug any gaps that exist and accelerate India Pharma Inc’s growth trajectory.
Next, Guest of Honour, Dr Dinesh Dua, Chairman, Pharmexcil, Chairman, Entrepreneurship & Start Ups, CII North India, CEO & Director, Nectar Lifesciences spoke on the topic ‘Bulk Drug Park: Opportunities and Challenges.’ He updated the huge influence and dominance that India wields in the generics space in the US and other global markets and pointed out that our life sciences industry is poised for a huge transformation, especially as we roll out the world’s largest healthcare programme, Ayushmaan Bharat. Informing that we are the fastest growing pharma market globally, he said that the India pharma industry is likely to touch $100 billion by 2014. However, he also highlighted the urgent need to become more self-reliant in APIs and bulk-drugs and drew attention to the fact that the huge dependence on Chinese APIs could prove to be a deterrent to our growth story. He also stressed that pharma hubs like Baddi can play a significant role in this growth story if it helps India achieve self-reliance on APIs and bulk drugs.
The second Guest of Honour was Manish Kapoor, Deputy Drugs Controller, Drugs Control Administration, Himachal Pradesh. He said that the industry is in transition and as a result, some tough times are to be expected. But, the churn will only help us to emerge stronger than ever before if we take effective steps to streamline our activities and reduce inefficiencies. He also raised the issue of ‘Not of Standard Quality (NSQ)’ drugs and was emphatic that a reason for rising NSQs is due to inadequate tracking of APIs and we need to monitor their quality in a better way. He also spoke on the various steps and measures taken by Himachal Pradesh’s Drugs Control Administration to improve quality and compliance in the state.
The next speaker, Kalidas Bhangare, MD, Testo India took the audience through Testo’s growth trajectory and spoke on Testo India’s solutions ranging from sensors to software. Bhangare also informed about the company’s wireless/ethernet data monitoring solutions for humidity and temperature in the pharma sector such as Testo Saveris. Outlining its benefits, he said, “Uninterrupted and secure measurement of temperature and humidity values is possible with automated data monitoring system – Testo Saveris. Such efficient solutions become a priority because even 99 per cent certainty is not enough in pharma industry.”
Subsequently, Dr Anoop Kumar, Market Development Manager, Pharma CRO Vertical, Sciex, gave an overview on mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography solutions offered by his company. He also gave details about identification, determination and quantitation of impurities in pharma processes and explained how the importance of impurities profiling in achieving regulatory compliance by presenting a few case studies. He concluded by giving details about Sciex’s solutions for impurity profiling and genotoxic impurity quantitation.