The Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) organised by the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association (IPCA), the confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Indian Hospital Pharmacists Association (IHPA), Indian Pharmacy Graduates Association, Association of Pharmacy Teachers of India (APTI) and All India Drugs Control Officers Confederation (AIDCOC), is undoubtedly the most important annual event of the pharmacy professionals in India. The very fact that the congress is the convergence of the entire facets of the profession encompassing the industry, the R&D sector, academia, regulators and the hospital and community pharmacy, gives it a distinct character of its own. Each annual IPC is bound to set a fresh agenda and give a new direction to the profession for the year ahead. The millennium IPC, the 52nd one in its history, is all set to commence at Hyderabad during the first week of December. The city, which is hosting the mega-event of the pharmacy profession after a gap of 17 years, is getting ready to greet the 4000 odd delegates who are to attend the congress from various parts of the world. The local organising committee and its 20 sub-committees with a total volunteer strength of about 200 members, have already done a yeoman job and are engaged in giving the finishing touches to ensure that the millennium IPC is a great success. Venkat Jasti, chairman, local organising committee (LOC) believes that this IPC is very crucial to the profession of pharmacy. He advocates that the 52 IPC should provide an opportunity for the pharmacy professionals to introspect and evolve suitable strategies to excel in future to be marked by globalisation, patent laws and intellectual property rights. In an exclusive interview with pharmabiz.com, he talks about the plans and programmes of LOC for turning the 52 IPC into a great event.

What are the highlights of the millennium IPC? How it would stand apart from all previous IPCs?

The theme of the IPC 52 " Quality medicines through rational regulations - Key to healthcare in the millennium", itself talks much about the broad-focused approach we have adopted for the congress this time. It shows that the congress is not going to discuss something that is to benefit only the industry or the student community. The entire pharmacy profession, which includes the industry, the trade, the regulatory bodies, academia, research sector and the budding pharmacists, all are going to find the congress useful. The issues covered will be of topical importance. Popular lectures and symposia on subjects like bio-equivalence & bioavailability of drugs, applications of biotechnology in drug discovery and manufacture, pharma industry beyond 2000 are to be there.

About 35 foreign dignitaries will be presenting their views and findings during various sessions in the congress. Scientific papers on pharma technology, pharma chemistry, pharma analysis, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, etc will be presented. There will be poster exhibition, a career exposition and a mega pharma expo. However the most important speciality of the congress will be its ever first pre-congress symposia, which will find IPCA joining hands with Indian Medical Association (IMA), a professional body of medical practitioners. We are organising a symposium on Alzehimers disease for doctors at the venue of IPC a day before the commencement of the congress.

Could you be specific on how the event is to benefit each constituents of the IPCA?

As I have already mentioned, the pre-congress is exclusively meant for the medical practitioners and the industry. The shift in the focus of the technical sessions, which normally dealt with the aspects of formulations, is another speciality of the event. We are discussing about the new drug discovery and biotechnology programmes in the sessions. The Indian pharmaceutical industry, the trade sectors, the academia all will find the sessions interesting considering the fact that apart from a couple of companies, Indian initiatives in this area are still in its infancy.

The morning hours of the exhibition are exclusively meant for the students. The industry will be asked to give special demonstrations on all days during the first two hours and we believe this would provide a good opportunity for the students to interact with the industry and really feel the new technologies and its applications.

A career exposition platform is other special programme meant for the students. Here we will be providing a special venue for the interested companies to give a high-tech presentation of their companies to the student audience. They can also place their requirements. The students who are interested can fill up the application forms provided by us and the sealed applications will be handed over to the respective companies at the end of the day. Six companies have already come forward to participate in this unique initiative. While each company will have to pay Rs 25,000 each to the IPCA, the students can utilise this service free of charge. And as far as the constituent bodies are concerned, each of them has been given specific time slots for organising seminars of their interest, provided it doesn''''''''t affect the general schedule.

It is known that three representatives from US FDA are to attend the seminars. To what extent do you feel the participation of members from similar drug regulatory bodies or licensing authorities would help the industry?

The presence of the regulatory bodies will certainly help in creating more awareness of the international rules among the industry that are really planning to enter foreign markets. We feel that we should have allotted more time to discuss on the subject. At least one whole day session is needed for the subject alone. Though IPC 52, due to its broad focus, has not given this the Hyderabad chapter of the IPA has decided to organise a special workshop on US FDA sometime in early 2001.

How is Hyderabad, the bulk drug capital of the country to gain from IPC 52?

Hyderabad is already a leading player in Indian formulations and bulk drug manufacturing sector. We have a dynamic and pro-active chief minister who is willing to understand the future requirements of the industry. By bringing a mammoth gathering like this to the city, to a function the chief minister himself is to inaugurate, the government is given a chance to know about the real potential of the industry. The interactions and deliberations that are to take place here will certainly attract more investments to the country and the state in this particular sector. It will necessiate the setting up of more environment friendly infrastructure, and an informed government has much to do in this regard. The IPC 52 is to influence the future programmes of the chief minister''''''''s Pharma Task Force also.

How was the response to the IPC website, which was hosted for this special purpose?

www.52ipc is another first in the history of the pharmaceutical congress. While we hosted the site many of us were skeptical of the usefulness of the site. But today we realise that it was the most appropriate initiative that we have taken for this event. More than 20 percent of registrations came through the Internet. Enquiries came from several parts of the world. The LOC has decided to request the IPCA to maintain this as a permanent site and we believe the site is to play a major role in all our future programmes.

The presence of www.pharmabiz.com and the live web coverage will be another speciality of this congress. We have also contacted the American Association of Indian Pharmaceutical Scientists, an organisation comprising of 1000 people. They have already announced the event in their meetings and have shown keen interest in the proceedings. We have also decided to give a link from our site to their web site and be more interactive in the future.