Prominent industry associations have been pleading with the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India to set up a dedicated export pro-motion council for pharmaceuticals namely Pharmexcil for quite some time.
The Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics Export Promotion Council (Chemexcil), which is currently looking after pharmaceutical exports in the country, has expressed strong reservations against the formation of a separate export promotion council (Pharmexcil). The council maintains that the new council would prove to be a duplication of work and wants the industry to strengthen the existing council through better cooperation among existing industry/trade associations in the pharmaceutical industry sector.
Satish W Wagh, chairman Chemexcil opined that the formation of another council would only help add more confusion in the minds of overseas buyers.
"Instead of fragmenting the institution for individual product group, a concerted effort should be made to strengthen the Chemexcil, which has over the years established its strong presence in the international market," he said. Currently the council has about 7000 members.
The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) has determined to project Indian capabilities in drug manufacturing and R&D sector abroad. Coming out of the conventional mode of functioning of export promotion councils in the country, the new council would try to market Indian strengths in pharmaceutical services sector, Venkat Jasti, president, Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA) a moving spirit behind the idea of Pharmexcil, informed Pharmabiz.com
"India has great potential to improve its export of services, particularly in the areas of collaborative research, contract manufacturing and consultancy services. The establishment of Pharmexcil has taken place in the right time," he said. Pharmexcil is expected to build the country's image as a quality supplier of pharmaceutical materials and finished drugs. Hyderabad contributes about 30 per cent of Indian pharma industry and can go up to 40 per cent with consistent efforts.
Pharmexcil received Central nod a couple of years ago. Though the in-principle approval was ready, the industry associations could not go ahead with the formation of the council due to the inability to raise the necessary corpus fund. The confusion over the headquarters of the council had also caused lot of delay. However, the issue was finally sorted out with IDMA going back from its demand to have the office in Mumbai. With AP state government coming forward to provide financial assistance for the council headquartered at Hyderabad, the fund raising problems were also solved.
The steering committee members DB Mody of JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, NH Israni of Blue Cross Laboratories, Venkat Jasti of Suven Life Sciences, K Nityananda Reddy of Aurobindo Pharma, Arun Sawhney of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Nalvade of Aventis and Executive Committee members of Bulk Drug Manufacturers’ Association (BDMA), Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) unanimously elected a Committee of Administration to take care of operations of Pharmexcil comprising of DB Mody as chairman, Venkat Jasti as vice-chairman and another 15 members from various small, medium and large scale pharmaceutical industries.
At present, the pharmaceutical capability of India is not only the products (APIs and formulations) but also skilled and specialised services such as contract manufacturing, contract research, clinical research and other resources like traditional knowledge, herbal science, biotechnology, genetic diversity, intellectual property etc. All these areas are to be taken with priority by the Council in order to optimize the growth both domestically and globally. In addition to this, the Council has a lot more to be concentrated on the national and international policy front to ensure the seamless growth of the sector.
The Council would have separate panels for all these specialized areas, says DB Mody, founder chairman of Pharmexcil.
It is important to note that the four major pharmaceutical industry associations, Indian drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), Bulk Drug Manufacturers’ Association (BDMA), Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) and Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) will contribute Rs.2.5 lakh each towards the working capital requirement of the Council.
The council, which is expected to begin operation by April first week, would have 2000 members.