Drug Information Association (DIA) would conduct its third annual conference on 'Drug Discovery and Clinical Development in India: Scientific, Regulatory and Social Frontiers' at Renaissance Mumbai Hotel and Convention Centre, Mumbai, India from February 25 to 27, 2009. The conference was scheduled for December 7-10, 2008 but postponed due to the terror attack in Mumbai.

The conference is learnt to serve as an international and neutral forum to address current solid scientific research in India pertaining to global development of drugs and biologics.

Who's who of the pharmaceutical, academia and regulatory agencies, including Dr Surinder Singh, drug controller general of India, Habil Khorakiwala, chairman of Wockhardt Group, Suprlya Sharma of Health Canada and Mehul Mehta of FDA, are expected to engage conference sessions, keynote lectures and workshops at DIA's third annual conference to be held in Mumbai.

"Driven by the need to improve research and development productivity and efficiency and the desire to access untapped markets, global pharmaceutical companies are increasingly off shoring and outsourcing operations to India. In this wake, DIA will convene global experts from industry, academia and regulatory for a provocative discussion on the challenges and issues facing drug discovery and clinical development in India," said the organisers.

The conference is expected to gather people related to pharma and biotech industry in one way or other. The three-day conference would be followed by one-day tutorials on February 28, 2009 at the same venue.

DIA serves more than 30,000 professionals in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and regulatory industries worldwide. Through its domestic and international meetings, training courses and workshops, DIA provides a neutral global forum for the exchange of information critical to the advancement of the drug discovery and lifecycle management processes.