The inaugural function of the sixth annual DIA conference on drug discovery and clinical development which was held on October 15, focused on the opportunities for innovation in the field of neglected disease and other important strategies to benefit the patients at large.

The speakers stressed and discussed on the possibilities that India can adopt by way of capacity building which will in-turn help the country in meeting the fast growing global needs.  Special focus was rendered to develop medicines for neglected diseases as many felt that there is lot of scope in this field with very few initiatives under way.

One of the important highlights of the event was the interest shown by the keynote speaker Dr David Lepay, senior advisor US FDA in having a close collaborative relation with the Indian government and the regulatory bodies signalling US FDA's increasing interest with doing business in and with India.

Many of the speakers who were present at the forum shared their concern on the lack of government initiatives for the industry in the way of incentives and schemes which in turn affect the growth of the industry in the competitive market.

Ranjit Sahani who is the president of OPPI and also the country president of Novartis stressed for increased number of PPP's between the government, academia and the industry. He said that though a lot of research activities are being done at the top research institutes within India there are very few partnerships seen between the industry and academia to share these innovative work.

Dr Flaguni Sen, director, Global Healthcare Innovation Management Centre (GHIMC), Graduate school of Business, Fordham University who had chaired the plenary session on barriers and facilitators to innovation in bio-pharmaceuticals opined that there needs to be more transparency in the regulatory system for the development of the healthcare sector especially in the clinical trials sector.

He stressed that the Indian companies should start thinking  about innovation only then can India move ahead to develop an innovative culture.

Many were of the opinion that the government should increase the regulatory capacity to deal with the challenges in the clinical side as it is one of the main problems that is hindering the development of this sector.

According to Kaushik Desai, director DIA, this event was aimed at addressing the key issues faced by the industry and also to sensitise the industry about the latest regulations that the regulatory authorities are trying to bring about. But most importantly its focus was to bring the regulators and the industry together so that they could have a one on one interaction with the other.

The four-day conference which will held till October 18, is aimed at bringing together industry professionals, clinicians, patient representatives and regulatory agencies from India, US, Europe and other emerging markets together and to provide an interactive forum for sharing information and networking.