Government of India has renewed focus on bulk drug manufacturing which is likely to get a boost with the developments of mega parks in the near future. These things are aligned with Prime Minister’s vision of 'Make in India' programme said Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizer Hansraj Gangaram Ahir during the inaugural address on the third edition of iPHEX2015 promoted by The Pharmaceuticals Exports Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), which commenced today in Mumbai and will be on till May 15, 2015.

He expressed optimism about the fact that pharma industry will give boost to the GDP growth going by the fact that its exporting to over 200 countries globally. iPhex 2015 is India’s own pharmaceutical show under the support of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce, and Government of India.

Commerce secretary Rajeev Kher further explained during the event that an inter ministerial committee report has recommended to revive bulk drug manufacturing in the country. Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Protection Girish Bapat said taking into account that India is pharmacy to the world, the event will help develop the pharmaceutical industry as buyers from over 80 countries have together under one roof.

Pharmexcil has organised the exhibition with support from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce, Government of India. Over 20,000 potential buyers including 450 overseas buyers from 89 countries are participating in the exhibition. Over 40 drug regulators are attending this mega exhibition from 15-20 countries.

Dr P V Appaji, Director General, Pharmexcil said, “In this current year, our main focus is to get the recognition of Indian Pharmacopoeia from drug regulators. For this, we are talking to all drug regulators and reassuring them that Pharmexcil would make its best efforts to ensure supply of best quality drugs at affordable prices. Recognition of Indian Pharmacopoeia will help significantly in manufacturing the quality drugs at affordable prices. Pharmexcil has compared the monographs of Indian Pharmacopoeia, British Pharmacopoeia and United States Pharmacopoeia and an examination of these monographs reveals that the stated specifications/standards are similar in nature. If overseas countries recognise Indian Pharmacopoeial standard for registering/testing of quality drugs imported from India, then manufacturers/exporters would be able to manufacture domestic and export purpose drugs in huge quantities with higher batch sizes. The cost of testing would be lower and the advantage of cost saving can be passed on to the importing countries.”

The event was inaugurated by Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizer Hansraj Gangaram Ahir and Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Protection Girish Bapat.

Drugs Controller General of India Dr G N Singh speaking on the sidelines of the event said that Indian regulators are stringently implementing its regulatory system to further boost business prospects. Joint secretary of Ministry of Commerce, Sudhanshu Pandey said that we have to meet the challenges related to documentation and data integrity and move on to demonstrate the quality of products going with the renewed focus on quality of drugs.

“With increasing R&D spends, Indian pharmaceutical sector has become a cost-effective centre for world class research as also for contract R&D. Indian companies in recent years have produced many cost-effective drugs that are affordable to the masses”, concluded Ashutosh Gupta, chairman, Pharmexcil.

“We are making concerted efforts to promote India’s status as the manufacturing hub of the world,” added Gupta.

A 6-member huge top government delegation team from Sri Lanka attended iPHEX 2015 event. Government of Sri Lanka has nominated the following officers for attending this mega event viz., S Liyanage, Chairman, State Pharmaceutical Corporation; KMDR Dassanayake, General Manager, State Pharmaceutical Corporation;  A Priyadharshana, Director, National Drug Quality Assurance Laboratory; M Karunarathne, Assistant Director, Medical Supplies Division;  H M Pushpakumara, Assistant Director, Medical Supplies Division and JRS Kumara, Chief Pharmacist, Medical Supplies Division. The event is co-located with PHARMA Pro&Pack Expo 2015, a show for pharma machinery manufacturers.

Bhavin Mehta, Committee Chief of iPHEX and CoA member, Pharmexcil said “iPHEX 2015 will be a complete value chain show and Pharmexcil is creating a sustainable pharma industry platform with a special focus on exports market development. Huge business opportunities are expected to emerge during the event. Besides, this year we have launched a Mobile App called iPHEX Mobile App. This APP is a perfect electronic event guide displaying the list of buyers, exhibitors, their speciality, areas of interest etc at just a click.”

“The unique model of exhibition format where each buyer from more than 89 countries meet each and every exhibitor is a model by itself. Due to this model, Pharmexcil has taken a lead to increase the reach of these buyers so that exhibitors can in turn maximize the potential of these buyers and explore new business opportunities”, concluded Mehta.

iPHEX 2015 has a participation of over 325 leading pharmaceutical companies.  The exhibitors’ list includes Lupin Laboratories, Mankind Pharma, Ajanta Pharma, Granules India, Charak Pharma etc. On the first day of the event, the technical session in the afternoon was on “Regulatory perspective for global opportunities in Nutraceuticals”.  On Day 2, there are two sessions, one in the morning and the second is in the afternoon. The morning session is on “Indian Pharmacopoeia – A Book on Global Standards”. Day 2 afternoon technical session is on “Regulatory Actions by US FDA – Strategies To Handle Business Risks”. The last day, which is Day 3, there is a very interesting technical session in the morning which is on “Interactive Meet With Overseas Regulators”.