What priorities have you set for yourself as the President of IPCA? Any goals in particular that you would like to accomplish?
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Atul Nasa
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Besides thanking the members of IPCA for having elected me as the President, IPCA, I would like to add that the honour imposed and the opportunity given to preside over the 65th IPC is really appreciable. There is an urgent need to reinforce and rebuild the standards with statutory bodies and to restore the confidence of the pharmacy graduates. Quality of pharmacy education has to be improved and taken to higher levels of professionalism with industrial/hospital participation. There is a requirement to ensure right education and empowerment of pharmacy professionals to help them to assume higher responsibilities and leadership roles.
Tell us about the theme of this years’ IPC.
The theme of the 65th IPC, ‘Pharma Vision 2020-Empowering Pharmacist,’ focuses on bringing pharmaceutical experts across the globe to a single platform where pharmacy education and practices and their development shall be the main issues for debate and deliberation. Empowering pharmacists implies developing leaders in the sector from diverse backgrounds, who shall provide their invaluable input in the growth of pharma as a profession and an industry. Historically, it can be seen that the various issues debated and discussed have been issues such as role of pharmacy, development of the industry, drug research, problems faced by the pharma industry, pharma education, regulatory measures, challenges and problems, role of pharmacist.
What preparations have gone into the event so far?
As has been highlighted in detail in the website www.65ipcdelhi.com, the registration of delegates and attendees have recently started. The first cut-off date for early registration is October 31, 2013 by when members / delegates planning to attend may register by paying a nominal fee. The online submission of papers for the scientific session started well in advance. The details of scientific sessions are available on the website, as well as on www.scientificipca.org. Efforts have been made for inviting the President/ Prime Minister of India to be the chief guests.
Further, regular meetings of the Local Organising Committee of 65th IPC are being held at New Delhi to review the progress report of various committees working for successfully organising IPC. At the IPCA Executive Council meeting held at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Federation House, New Delhi earlier this month the representatives of Federation Associations of IPCA viz IPA, IPGA, APTI, AIDCOC and IHPA reviewed the preparation of 65th IPC.
What would be the venue of the event?
The venue of the conference is Amity University Campus, Noida, which is an international campus having all infrastructures for scientific sessions with state-of-the-art multi media facilities, spacious grounds for conducting exhibitions, hospitality, inaugural sessions and cultural events. The PHARMAceutical EXPO 2013 concurrent with the 65th IPC will be organised by FICCI. FICCI is playing a supportive and important role since 2001, having successfully organised a series of PHARMAceutical EXPO’s concurrent with 53rd IPC onwards. We are expecting participation from more than 250 exhibitors in various fields who will be displaying their machineries, equipment, technology, books etc.
How many delegates and attendees are you expecting? What scientific sessions and presentations are of particular interest?
There has been a considerable response from the interested delegates and attendees and the lists are being updated. We are expecting around 8000 plus delegates for 65th IPC. There will be plenary sessions, scientific sessions and scientific poster paper presentations. For plenary and other scientific sessions, we are expecting around 80 speakers out of which around 30 will be foreign speakers. As detailed in the website www.scientificipca.org, students can present their research papers in various scientific sessions viz, pharma technology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacognosy, indigenous drugs, herbal formulations and phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology, clinical research and pharmacovigilance, biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism, pharmaceutical analysis and quality assurance, biotechnology and biotherapeutics, hospital, community and clinical pharmacy, pharma education and professional pharmacy, drug regulatory affairs, pharma management, pharmacoeconomics and pharmacoepidemiology. There has been a tremendous response from students willing to participate and make the event a success. Their energy and potential shall be effectively utilised in the conference. Various scientific symposiums will be held, which are: Presidents symposium on empowering pharmacists; Standardisation of biological products; Advances in regulatory sciences and education; Pharma industry: From here to where; Role of community pharmacist in implementing public health policy; Molecular cardiovascular pharmacology; Pharma policies and export; Empowering pharma students through leadership development; Drug development regulations; Strategies to strengthen practice services. The details of scientific programmes, speakers etc will be available on the website by October 15, 2013.
The pharma industry has witnessed a lot of significant events in the last one year. How would the IPCA be working to address these issues and would they be part of IPC?
Rather than focusing on development only in the past one year, it would be right to focus on the growth and development in the sector over the previous decade. The Indian pharma industry has witnessed a robust growth in the past decade moving from a turnover of approx $1 billion in 1990 to over $20 billion in 2010. Recognising the growth potential, Government of India has took up the initiative of developing the Indian pharma sector by creating a department which focuses on policy planning, development and regulation. India’s rich human capital is the strongest asset for the pharma industry which is a knowledge-led industry. We have various pharma research education institutes such as NIPER which have grown in number and work extensively to address the HR needs of the pharma sector including regulators’ training. Top MNCs are serviced by Indian pharmac companies for their highly regulated markets and meeting their stringent quality expectations. There is an effective control system to monitor the quality of pharma at all levels in India. India has been enjoying investments by foreign investment companies. The Asia-Pacific Region including India is also a new destination for generic drugs industry. In fact, a leading pharma company in India has evolved customer centric division within the company that will provide custom research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) for large, mid-sized and emerging pharma entities globally. India has shown a tremendous growth potential for development in the pharma sector. With the right guidance, monitoring and support, we can surely surge ahead as a great nation. The conference shall focus on various aspects which shall be of immense use to the entire fraternity. Hoping to see a massive participation and encouragement during 65th IPC.