DoP moots National Centre for R&D in bulk drugs for helping sector

Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is planning to set up a National Centre for R&D in bulk drugs with a total cost of Rs.56 crore. The move is in view of the rising competition to the Indian bulk drug industry especially from China affecting the viability of several small units.

As per the plans, the centre may be located at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad, taking into account the large number of bulk drug players in Andhra Pradesh which accounted for 30 per cent of the sector, sources said.

“Indian bulk drug Industry is facing problems of innovation and capacity building in an increasingly competitive environment specially from countries like China, Israel, Brazil, etc. The sector largely has SMEs but they are highly fragmented. Hence the industry lacks in its ability to invest in R&D, make processes more cost effective and scale up operations. Therefore a need has been felt to focus on R&D in bulk drugs sector. It is accordingly proposed to establish a R&D centres for bulk drugs,” said the proposal by the DoP.

The centre is expected to help both, the internal stake holders i.e. students and faculty of NIPER as well as the external stake holders like industry, entrepreneurs and industry associations. The students and faculty will have facilities of academic research, process oriented research, training for industry practices etc. On the other hand industry will get process innovation, product related R&D, analytical facilities, consultancy services, development of better and greener process etc., as per the plan.

The key objectives of the centre include becoming an innovative R&D provider in the field of bulk drugs and offer solutions for competitive and environmentally friendly technologies, providing centralized research facilities and equipments, analytical facilities for drug testing and consulting services, establishing a platform for maintaining industry-academia and academia linkages, and enhancing the capacity of students and faculty at NIPER Hyderabad by providing higher academic courses, the proposal said.

DoP reconstitutes Board of Governors for NIPER after long gap

The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has reconstituted the Board of Governors for the premier National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, after it remained without a board for a long time.

The Department has constituted the 20-member Board with Dr V M Katoch, the Secretary of the Department of Health Research, as the chairperson. Director of the NIPER, Joint Secretary in-charge of Pharmaceutical Industry in the DoP, Secretary, Technical Education in the Government of Punjab, Financial Advisor to the DoP, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), and Member-secretary of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be ex-officio members.

President of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) and President of Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) will be the two other ex-officio members, according to a notification by the DoP. Lalit Kumar Jain (Pharmachem, New Delhi) and Ajay Piramal (CEO, Piramal Health Care) will represent the industry as members of the Board.

Experts like Dr Tushar K Chakraborty (director, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow), Dr R C Deka (director, AIIMS, Delhi), Prof. N Rajendran (director and Professor at Madras Medical College), Prof T Alesan (Associate Professor at Kamraj College, Thoothukudi), Dr Nagarajan Venkataraman (Professor Emeritus in Neurosciences, Tamil Nadu), Prof. Vinod Kumar Dixit (Dept of Pharmaceutical Sciences), Dr Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar), Dr N J Gaikward (Professor at Dept of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University), Prof. D Acharya (director, IIT Kharagpur) and Prof. B Suresh (vice-chancellor, JSS University, Mysore and the president of the Pharmacy Council of India) will be the other members.