The All India Drug Control Officers Confederation (AIDCOC), the congregation of drug control officers in the country, is planning to conduct a series of seminars on building trust in safety and efficacy of medicines in the coming months, as a curtain raiser to the 61st Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC). The AIDCOC is the official organisers of the 61st IPC to be held from December 11 to 13, 2009, at Nirma University of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad.

The plans are to conduct pre-congress seminars at New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, on the theme of IPC - 'Building trust in safety and efficacy of medicines', to moot on the need of public awareness about the medicines available in the market. The first of the series of seminars will be held at Hotel Taj Coromondal, Chennai on September 13, 2009, along with the 12th annual convention of the confederation, informs Ravi Udayabhaskar, secretary general, AIDCOC.

"This is for the first time in the history of IPC a series of pre-congress event is held in various places to awoke public attention to the drug related matters," he said. "Since the topic is related to consumer, we have designed the seminars to become a bridge between the experts in the industry, regulatory authority and the general public," added Udaybhaskar. The AIDCOC is already indulged in various interactive programmes to disseminate awareness on the drug related issues to the consumer.

In the first seminar, a speech on the theme will be delivered by Raghavendra Rao, managing director, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Dr P V Appaji, executive director, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council, will detail on the current scenario and the future prospects of the Indian pharmaceutical industry in the international market and Justice S Nagamuthu, sitting judge, Madras High Court will deliver his views on the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (Amendment) 2008.

Though the first seminar will be only for the representatives from regulatory authority, pharma industry and people related to the sector, the ensuing seminars would have participation from non-governmental organisations related to healthcare industry and consumers. The seminars will help the organisation to bring up the theme as a subject of public interest, which in turn, will invite more public attention to the IPC even as the event has erstwhile attracted only the pharmaceutical and allied industries and the pharma students, comments Udayabhaskar.

The confederation has selected H G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) as the chairman of the local organising committee. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), as in the earlier IPCs, will conduct the pharma exhibition concurrent to the 61st IPC.