All India Drugs Control Officers Confederation (AIDCOC) will hold its 12th Annual Convention on September 13 in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Besides office-bearers, drugs controllers from every state and Union territory in the country, professionals from pharmaceutical industry will participate in the convention, according to M Dhilip Kumar, organizing secretary of the national programme.

In the convention Justice S Nagamuthu, Chennai High Court, will speak on New Legislatives in Drugs & Cosmetics Act, and Dr P V Appaji, executive director, Pharmexcil, will deliver a talk on Pharmaceutical Export Opportunities in Overseas Market. Raghvendra Rao, managing director of Orchid Pharma will deliver the theme lecture.

V K Subburaju, principal secretary, Tamil Nadu health department will hold the keynote address and R P Meena, director general, Drugs & Copyright, Government of Andhra Pradesh will grace occasion with his guest lecture.

TN State Drugs Controller M Bhaskaran, AIDCOC national president Ravi Kant, director general S W Deshpande and other state unit's office-bearers of AIDCOC will also speak on.

According to sources, the convention will create an interactive platform to update professionals in regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical industry to share their views and distribution network about advances in the area of Pharmacotherapeutics. The theme 'Building trust in safety and efficacy of Medicines' will be highlighted in the annual convention to mark as the Association's commitment towards consumer welfare. A souvenir of the Association will be released in the convention by the chief guest.

AIDCOC, which was formed in 1995, is affiliated to the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association and is now pursuing the agenda of establishing an All India Training Academy for Drugs Control Officers and professionals of pharma industry and clinical research organizations.