Panel Discussion : Bridging gaps in disease management

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated progress in formulation development and drug delivery. For instance, as scientists and researchers found that drug formulation and delivery strategies such as controlled release and targeted delivery could enhance the usage of repurposed drugs and reduce their side effects. It also highlighted how crucial it is to bridge gaps in the healthcare continuum to improve preparedness for future pandemics and health crises.

Therefore, the first panel discussion of FDD Conclave 2022 was on the theme of the conference, ‘Bridging gaps in disease management’. The eminent panelists for this session were Viveka Roychowdhury, Editor, Express Pharma (Moderator); Dr Ashok Omray, Pharma Consultant; Dr Sukhjeet Singh, Chief Scientific Officer, Sentiss Pharma; Dr Subhrangshu Sengupta, VP, R&D-Formulation, IPCA Laboratories; Dr Pirthipal Singh, VP & Head – R&D, Tirupati Group; Dr Sandhya Shenoy, AVP-R&D, FDC; and Dr Rahul Dabre, VP and Head-Formulation, Alembic Research Centre.

They looked at various aspects like the challenges faced by the FR&D community during the pandemic and the lessons learnt from the experience. In a wide-ranging conversation, the panelists spoke about the potential of India Pharma Inc, opportunities and challenges in fostering innovation and the importance of meaningful collaborations to be future-ready.

The experts spoke on the need to build better industry academia partnerships for talent building. Another key issue discussed was how nutraceuti cals have become more important and relevant to disease management and the advancements in nutra FR&D. They also emphasised that the pharma formulation sector has to keep reinventing itself to meet the changing dynamics of the pharma industry.