The seminar on ‘Current trends in Pharmaceutical Management’ organized by the Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association (IDMA Tamil Nadu branch) and Association of Pharmaceutical Analysts, (Mumbai), held in Chennai stressed on the need for incorporating the latest management practices into the pharma industry.

Conducted here on Nov 22nd, the one-day seminar had four sessions. Eminent speakers presented papers on various aspects of trends in pharmaceutical management. In the first session, RS Iyer, pharmaceutical consultant from Bangalore spoke on quality management of materials. He stressed on the need to have specifications for all input materials for use in production, quality assurance in purchase, designing warehouses to help preserve stored materials in good condition and minimize contamination, separate loading bay, storage area for cleaning the outside surfaces of material containers etc.

GR Asrani, pharmaceutical consultant from Mumbai elaborated on HRD management in pharmaceutical industry, JL Asipahimalani presented a paper on laboratory accreditation and technical management as per international standards I.S.17025, MS Anand, managing director of CRP Group of companies spoke on air management as per Schedule M and Dr Vinay G Nayak, chairman, regulatory affairs sub-committee, IDMA presented a paper on current laboratory management practices.

In his inaugural address, AR Singh, dy. drug controller of India (South) said the pharmaceutical industry in India should not blindly oppose the changes incorporated by the drug administration, as these were intended to help the industry achieve better quality standards at par with international standards. General perception among the people is that SSIs manufacture inferior quality products, and the hype related to spurious drug production in India stem from this belief.

Echoing a similar viewpoint, R Narayanaswami, deputy drugs controller general-India, said media reports on 35 per cent spurious drug production in India were baseless and exaggerated. He exhorted the SSIs to adopt GMP norms and thereby assure the public that they were getting quality medicines, and thereby change the image on spurious drug production.

According to Gopakumar G Nair, past president of IDMA, the industry should boldly take on the challenges with a positive mindset, outlook and by adopting the latest technological advances.

According to SV Veeramani, vice-president, IDMA, south zone, it was wrong to brand the Indian industry as makers of spurious drugs since only India can boast of 60 units having USFDA approval.