The Federation of Indian Pharma Entrepreneurs (FIPE), an association of pharmaceutical units of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, felicitated the new Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr Surinder Singh at a function on March 8 at FICCI auditorium in Delhi.

Officers from Delhi drug department, more than 100 drug manufacturers from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and office-bearers of FIPE, CIPI, Bulk Drug Dealers Association and IPGA participated in the function.

In his address, Dr Surinder Singh said that the industry will be involved in the decision-making process of his department. He also assured of transparency in the working of the DCGI office. In this connection, the DCGI office is already in talk with an IT company, he said.

In his welcome address, FIPE general secretary B R Sikri while praising initiatives taken by the new DCGI for bringing transparency in the DCGI office said, "We were thrilled to see your initiatives to improve upon the system the revolutionary changes which you propose to bring but with the hope that the same will create the right economic environment in the country without affecting the overall interest of the pharma units particularly in tax free zone, which our Federation represents.

In his presidential address, FIPE president RK Arora expressed the associations about the new pharma policy. "Much awaited Draft National Pharmaceutical Policy had been approved by the Minister of C&PC. Most of the provisions in this policy are detrimental to the growth of the indigenous pharma industry and would lead to a situation similar to the one that existed in the 70's when country depended heavily on imports and the market was dominated by MNCs", he said.

Arora also suggested to the DCGI to organize a half day seminar in Himachal and Uttaranchal from time to time to educate the manufacturers to understand the regulatory authorities as friend and not as a strict regulator only.

Prominent pharma leaders who were present in the function included Vinod Kalani, BK Gupta, DC Jain, Umesh Sanghi, RK Gupta, SK Singh, etc.