Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) is organizing a one-day seminar on 'Generic Drugs Opportunities, Challenges & Trends' on 4th April 2008 in Mumbai.

Dr R B Smarta, MD, Interlink Consultancy Pvt Ltd. will present the keynote address in the seminar.

The ever-increasing costs of healthcare provision the world over is forcing many governments to enact legislation to promote and import generic drugs in order to keep costs down and increase the number and variety of generic medicines available to consumers and healthcare providers. A case in point is the Generic Initiative for value and Efficiency (GIVE) by USA drug authorities.

With drugs worth approximately US$ 20 billion in annual sales facing patent expiry in 2008, and nearly US$ 80 billon worth patent-protected drugs to go off patent (including 30 of the best selling US patent-protected drugs) by 2012, it is a golden opportunity to Indian generic manufacturers to position themselves to offer generic versions of these drugs worth US$ 160 billon.

With such significant opportunities for generic drugs, IDMA has taken up the mantle of getting the Pharma industry ready for the challenges and opportunities on offer. This seminar will provide innovative ideas for product managers, business development managers, SMEs, marketing and sales managers, etc.

Various other topics of relevance to the theme for the industry will be presented by other eminent speakers from the industry: Barriers in Generic Drugs growth strategies and solutions by Dr V Malkar, Head-Regulatory, Reliance Life Sciences, Lifecycle & Portfolio Management of Generic Drugs by Megha Dhargalkar, Vice President - Marketing and Sales, Reliance Life Sciences, Super Generics - Value addition to Generics by Dr. Shirish Kulkarni, Director, Innovation cell, Lupin Research Park, Pune, Regulatory Issue on Generics by S W Deshpande, former joint commissioner, FDA-Maharashtra, IP issues in Generic Drugs by Gopakumar G Nair, CEO, Gopakumar Nair Associates, Overview of Biogenerics/Biosimilar or follow-on Protein Drugs by U C. Banerjee, Professor & Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, NIPER and Promoting Generics at Retail Pharmacy by Dr. H.P. Tipnis, Medicine Shoppe.