The scientific committee of Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), the main organ of IPC that is responsible for all technical decisions, is in place. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has finalised the list of 23 experts drawn from the industry and academia as members to the scientific committee. The tenure of the committee will be five years with one third of its members getting retired on a random basis every two years.

Dr. Nitya Anand, ex-director, CDRI, Lucknow and Dr. P. R. Pabrai, ex-director, CIPL, Ghaziabad are the chairman and vice-chairman of the committee respectively. The members of the committee are Professor Saranjit Singh, NIPER, Mohali, Professor V. K. Kapoor, Punjab University, Chandigarh, Dr. V. K. Lal, deputy director, Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha, New Delhi, Dr. D. B. Anantha Narayana, head, herbals research, Hindustan Lever Research Ltd., Mumbai, Dr. Anup Mishra, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi., Professor P. Rama Rao, director, NIPER, Dr. Anil Paul Kariath, managing director, Sartorius India Ltd., Bangalore, Prafull D. Sheth, former executive director, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., Dr. P. G. Shrotriya, chief executive, Elite Pharma Consultants, Navi Mumbai, Dr. K. M. Thomas, vice-president, APL Research Centre, Hyderabad, Dr. Vinay G Nayak, executive vice-president, quality operations and regulatory compliances, Lupin Ltd., Mumbai, Mr. Vinod Arora, director, pharma research, Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, Dr. V. A. Srinivasan, executive director, Indian Immunologicals Ltd., Hyderabad, Dr. S. N. Pal, director, technical operations, Hindustan Latex Ltd., Thiruvananthapuram, Partha Jyoti Gogoi, director (I/C), Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory (RDTL), Gauhati, J. L. Sipahimalani, CMA Laboratories, Mumbai, Dr. Prem K. Gupta, ex-drugs controller (I), New Delhi, R. S. Iyer, former vice-president, quality assurance, Glaxo Laboratories Ltd., Bangalore, Dr. Hemnalini Kumar, director, bio-products, Salesworth India Ltd., Bangalore and Dr. T. G. Chandrashekhar, director and head, analytical research, Ranbaxy Research Laboratories. Dr G N Singh, director, Central Indian Pharmacopoeia Laboratory, Ghaziabad is the ex-officio member and member-secretary of the committee.

It should be noted that the first meeting of IPC, held on April 20, had asked a four member research committee to identify eminent scientific personalities to be nominated to the scientific committee. The research committee members who identified the members are Dr P R Pabrai, ex-director CIPL, Ashwini Kumar, DCGI, Dr P Rama Rao, director, NIPER and Dr Nitya Anand.

The formation of an autonomous IP commission was a long cherished dream of Indian pharmaceutical community. The formation of the commission was notified on March 22, 2005 which said that the commission has been registered as a Society under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, 1860 on December 9, 2004. The IPC has a three-tier structure consisting of general body, governing body and scientific committee.