Controlled Release Society, Indian Chapter organises 17th International Symposium

The symposium had the theme, ‘Advances in Technology and Business Potential of New Drug Delivery Systems

Controlled Release Society Indian Chapter (CRS IC) recently organised the 17th International Symposium in Mumbai. The theme for the symposium was Advances in Technology and Business Potential of New Drug Delivery Systems.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Dr Anisha Pargal, President, CRSIC; Ajit Singh, Chairman, ACG Worldwide and Chair Organising Committee; Dr Ilva Rupenthal, Director at Large, CRS, Dr Vandana Patravale, Scientific Convenor and CRSIC Vice President. Close to 400 attendees took part in the symposium.

Dr Dilip Shanghvi, MD, Sun Pharmaceuticals in a pre-recorded video spoke about Sun Pharma’s research activities. Dr Janet Halliday, Ferring Controlled Therapeutics and External Technology, Scotland, UK gave the keynote address. She also spoke about Drug Delivery: Where Science Meets Business. Professor Bruno Sarmento, University of Porto, Portugal, elaborated on functionalised nanomedicines for mucosal and cell-driven recognition drug delivery. Dr Ajay Saxena gave an insight on biopharmaceutic considerations in designing modified release formulation.

Steve Mesite, Director, Microfluidics Machines, Microfluidics, addressed the audience on process and formulation development of liposomal formulations for controlled drug delivery. Dr Robert W Lee, President, Particle Sciences, Lubrizol Lifesciences spoke on CDMO perspective on development of complex formulations.

Dr Rupenthal from CRS, USA said, “I really enjoyed attending the CRS IC Silver Jubilee meeting which offered a great mix of speakers from academia and industry nationally and internationally. The meeting also offered valuable interaction with young scientists during the poster session, an aspect of great importance to the Controlled Release Society.”

Dr Pargal from CRS IC, spoke on the contribution of the symposium and the chapter. She stated, “The CRS Indian Chapter provides a unique platform for sharing research innovations and promoting education in the field of new drug delivery. This year we received applications for over 150 poster presentations by postgraduate students from across the country, showcasing their talent and research. The symposium thus provided postgraduate students with a wonderful opportunity to listen to first hand and interact with leading scientists and industry leaders and provided industry with the platform to interact with the national talent pool.”

Ajit Singh, Chairman, ACG Group Worldwide, as Chairperson of the symposium and patron of the CRS Indian Chapter, called out to industry leaders to help translate research into commercially viable products. Sharing his views, he said, “While the audience was still preponderantly academia and students of pharmacy, nevertheless it was gratifying to see the greater presence of industry personnel in the event. Involvement of the pharma industry should be a focus area for all CRS events world-wide. This will enable controlled release technologies to reach their full potential quicker, improve patient convenience and ensure better compliance and marketability of superior pharma products.”

A wide range of topics were discussed over the two days focussing on recent advances in nanomedicine and the mucoadhesive behaviour of nanoparticles; challenges for targeted delivery to the gut and in ocular disorders; the role of functionalised polymers in drug delivery; translation of drug delivery to products for women’s health, reproductive medicine, urology, and gastroenterology; developing novel anti-infectives that can overcome biological barriers like the gastrointestinal epithelia, the skin and the lungs as well as additional microbial barriers, such as the bacterial cellular envelope, biofilms and host cell membranes; potential of drug delivery in the agrochemical industry.

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