The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, in association with the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) has recently organised a one-day seminar on 'Contract research in pharmaceutical and biotech industry: Scope and opportunities' at the IICT campus.

Addressing the symposium, Dr I S Gandhi, medical director, Vimta Labs Ltd, said, "The need for a contract research organisation (CRO) is due to both upward and downward cost pressures exerted on pharmaceutical development programmes thereby focussing on their core skills and outsource routine development process to CROs. This will reduce both time and cost." He added that the selection of a contract research organisation for successful partnership needs an approach to identify and develop relationship based upon shared goals. An initial feasibility assessment is a prerequisite for adequately defining role of each partner for the strategic goal.

Delivering a talk on the contract research industry in India, Dr Milind Gharpure, senior vice president, active pharmaceutical ingredients research and development (API R&D), Emcure Pharmaceuticals, said that the increasing demand of more new chemical entities (NCEs) and the pressure of reducing the cost of development are the two major factors for multinational companies looking at outsourcing and partnering. Contract research in India provides between 40 per cent to 90 per cent cost savings over research cost incurred in the US. Business is booming in India's contract research and manufacturing services due to country's strong process chemistry skills, low operational costs and the availability of skilled workforce.

Other eminent speakers at the function were Dr A V Rama Rao, chairman and managing director of Avra Laboratories Ltd, Dr S Y Pandey, director of Jai Research Foundation, Dr Ian Cliffe, head, medicinal chemistry, New Drug Discovery Research of Ranbaxy Laboratories and Dr Anuradha Udumudi, managing director, genetic India.