Dilip S Shanghvi, chairman & managing director of Sun Pharmacuetical Industries Limited and vice president of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) will succeed H F Khorakiwala of Wockhardt Group as president of the IPA. Sudhir Mehta, chairman of Torrent Group will be the new vice president.

The IPA, initially formed by eight national companies in November 1999, has now thirteen companies in its fold. They are Alembic, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Unichem Laboratories, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, USV, Lupin Laboratories, Wockhardt, and Matrix Laboratories.

A brainchild of late Dr Parvinder Singh, the IPA, in a short span of five years, has emerged as a credible alternative that caters to a large number of stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry. It has grasped the emerging scenario and has worked with the Government to steer the local industry to new heights.

Collectively, their R&D expenditure for the year ended March 2005 is Rs 1,500 crore, which accounted for 90 per cent of the total private sector spending in pharmaceutical research and development. The exports of drugs and pharmaceuticals by these national companies are estimated at Rs 5,600 crore, that is more than one-third of the country's exports of drugs and pharmaceuticals, and they serve over 30 per cent of the domestic market.