Experts have called upon the drug manufacturers to focus on new dosage forms to enhance patients' conveniences at the scientific sessions and pharma expo in the 59th Pharmaceutical Congress here last week

The symposium on ``Pharma Vision 2020: Product, Patient and Practice'' set the tone for the scientific sessions in the morning. The sessions on different topics, held simultaneously at three halls, had eminent speakers and officials including DCGI, Dr M Venkateshwarlu on the central stage, as the day also witnessed large number of visitors flocking the stalls at the pharma expo.

"The industry will have to focus on developing new dosage forms that would ensure and enhance patients conveniences especially for long term treatment of chronic lifestyle diseases,'' said Satish Rajkondawar of Sanofi-Aventis, at the opening session chaired by current IPC president Dr H T Tipnis.

The manufacturers will have to gear up to equip themselves to create suitable facilities to manufacture innovative drug delivery systems. They have to design and adapt new state-of-the-art technologies to maintain quality and cost effectiveness of their products, he said.

"The technologies of the future will be designed so as to minimize any human intervention thereby ensuring uniform and sustainable product quality attributes form batch to batch. Two things that should go hand in hand are ensuring our customers get technology savvy products at affordable prices,'' he said, calling for proactive planning and proficient execution of new drug product processing.

FIP chief, Praful D Sheth called for optimising medication management in order to produce positive health outcomes and generate savings to the health sector. Drugs therapy with patient oriented approach for improved outcomes that safeguards public on rationality, safety, effectiveness, cost and personalized care will have to be delivered, he said.

``While contributing to health improvement through supply of medication, pharmacists are contributing to the well-being of the society. Pharmacists will always remain a part of the solution, as important allies of government and consumers in the implementation of health policies that better serve citizens' interest,'' Sheth said.

Talking on `pharmacy, today, tomorrow and in 2020', Rajendra Gupta of Heartline Tele-medical Services, Lifeline Hospitals, noted that the retail pharma marketing in India was still lagging 50 years behind the time.

Urging the pharmacists to act as single information touch point for all healthcare needs, he said the entire pharmacy set up needs to be more service based then trade based.

Health checks like body mass index, weight measurement, BP, sugar check-up, PFT and ECG must be made available in pharmacies, he said, while presenting the challenges for the pharmacists tomorrow.