Strict adherence to quality standards is the key to success. There is a great opportunity waiting for the industry. The was stated by the Bill Gates of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, Dr K Anji Reddy, Chairman of Dr Reddy's Laboratories. He said 70 per cent of his company's profits came from the highly competitive US market. "America is the place where we can make money, provided we are quality-conscious. About 40 to 50 per cent of the world's pharmaceutical market is there," Dr Reddy said.

Dr Reddy was speaking as chief guest at the inauguration of the National Pharmacy Week 2002, sponsored by the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, AP State Branch, at Hotel Viceroy, in Hyderabad, on Sunday.

Talking about his success in the US market, Dr Reddy said initially some US FDA officials had come for inspection of his company's plants. After the inspection they told him that they had come to find some holes, but they could not find any. "We are among the 10 best pharmaceutical companies in the world, if not among the five," he said.

"When nobody thought of drug discovery in India, we were the first to start research in the year 1993. Now we are the envy of any pharmaceutical company. We have discovered three molecules so far and they are at different stages of clinical trials," Dr Reddy said.

According to Dr Reddy, though drugs are costly in the US, no patient is left out just because he cannot afford them. There is a great concern in the US when it comes to the people's health. This is the kind of attitude that helps.

He said in business there was nothing wrong in making profits. But healthcare was different from any other business, especially because 95 per cent of the people could not afford costly medication. Therefore, it was the duty of every entrepreneur, everyone involved in the industry, to learn from Bill Gates and give something back to the society. Dr Reddy said he had given a lot back to the people in his humble way even before Bill Gates had started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 1997. This year Dr Reddy's Foundation would be giving about $1 million.

Besides the company's contributions to various philanthropic projects, each of the 4000 odd staff members, on an average, contributes Rs 50 per month. An equal amount is being put by the company, making a total contribution of Rs 50 lakh per year. That is Dr Reddy's innovation even in philanthropy.

Dr Reddy also inaugurated the website of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association at the end of the meeting.

D Hanumantha Rao, president of the Association and Director of the Drugs Control Administration, Andhra Pradesh, said every drug had its benefits and risks as well. When a medicine's benefits outweigh its risks, the Drugs Controller-General would consider it safe and give licence to manufacture it. Licensing was not for controlling the industry, but regulating the malpractices. It was essential because it involved the lives of people. Pharmacy was a profession and not a trade, he said.

P Ananthasayanam Reddy, Additional Director-General, Drugs and Copyright, Drugs Control Administration, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, said the prime concern of the industry should be how to provide drugs at affordable prices. He read out a letter from a newspaper on the subject and asked the delegates to ponder over it. He did not agree that everyone is honest in this profession.

At the technical session that followed, Shyam Khante, Technical Operations Head, GM&S, Smithkline, India, gave a presentation on "Agile Manufacturing Practices -Putting the Prices Together." He said India had come a long way from the '50s and '60s and some of the Indian pharmaceutical companies like Dr Reddy's and Ranbaxy had penetrated the western markets.

He says the days of mass production and dumping the drugs in the market are over. Agile manufacturing means producing to the needs of the market, the customer. The industry should be pro-active and reactive to the market requirements and provide better products and services faster and at a lower cost. He also dwelt at length on Lean Sigma followed by Toyota in the '50s for reduction in cost and Six Sigma, followed by GE in the '90s, reducing variation in manufacturing processes.

He said the repetition of regulatory approvals should be stopped and called for the Gold Pass concept -plant approvals instead of product approvals.

Dr P Gundu Rao, Director (Technical), Divis Labs, Hyderabad, said pharmaceutical operations had gone global. He said the industry should also cater to the world requirements by undertaking intensive research. "The new mantra is outsourcing. It is old wine in new bottle, though it has grown from a slow level to a very sophisticated level."

The key to good research is documentation and Dr Rao explained the need for accurate documentation, especially for International Property Rights (IPR), and other aspects of documentation.

According to Dr P Khadagapathi Podile, general secretary of the Association, the week-long celebrations would include a Students' Pharmacists Day on Monday, Pharmacist in Environment Care on Tuesday, Pharmacist in Healthcare on Wednesday, Pharmacist in Service on Thursday, Industrial Pharmacists Day on Friday and the National Valedictory function on Saturday. Megastar Chiranjeevi would be the chief guest on Wednesday at Pharmacist on Healthcare. A blood donation camp is also being organised on that day.