Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Bengal Branch has conferred the Acharya PC Ray Memorial Gold Medal Award to Dr DBA Narayana, for his contribution to the pharmaceutical profession.

The award was instituted in the name of Acharya PC Ray who was instrumental in setting up the pharma industry in Bengal in the early 19th century. He established the Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceuticals company as early as 1910 which gave leadership to the Indian medicine sector.

Some of the previous awardees are Dr G B Ramasarma, Prof. Harkishan Singh, Dr Parvinder Singh, former chairman and CEO of Ranbaxy Laboratories and Sri Ramanabhai Patel, a distinguished pharmacist of India  and founder of Zydus Cadila.

This year, Dr DBA Narayana won the award for his efforts in the pharmaceutical profession. He has worked in many professional organizations and was vice chairman of the IPA and secretary of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress, besides being the managing trustee of Delhi Pharmaceutical Trust through which he has contributed t the professions of pharmacy. He is also considered as a leading scientist in pharmacy and herbal medicine. He recently retired from Unilever.

The award consists of a gold medal and a citation which were given away during the golden jubilee National Pharmacy Week which was observed across the country on November 20, 2011.