Local Organizing Committee (LOC), with S V Veeramani, CMD of Fourrts Laboratories as chairman, has been constituted for the second Indian Pharmaceutical Association Convention-2010 to be held in Chennai from March 12 to 14 next year. J Jayaseelan, COO of Novel Therapeutics is the secretary.

The formal meeting of the committee was held in Chennai on November 25. According to the organizers, regulatory and industry professionals, community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists and teachers and pharmacy students are the targeted audience in the convention. This year the theme selected for the three days event is 'India-Surging forward as the Global Pharma Destination'. The first IPA convention was held in New Delhi last year.

What is special with this year’s convention is, according to Veeramani, pharma industry and clinical research organization professionals will get an opportunity to enlighten themselves with current trends in manufacturing and clinical research as per global standards. Regulatory professionals will be updated to harmonize with the international regulatory standards. Further, students of pharmacy and research scholars can learn more on the current requirements on academic and research scenario in the world. The program will also help the community and hospital pharmacists to upgrade their knowledge on the latest trends in pharmacy practices and pharmacovigilance, he said.

In addition to the LOC, a few more committees including Advisory Committee, Task Committee, Expenditure Committee and Committee for Public Relations have been formed. The director of Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department, M Bhaskaran, deputy drugs controller in charge at the CDSCO office in Chennai, Shanthy Gunasekaran, chairman of CIPI, J Jaishankar and B Sethuraman, president of TN pharmaceutical manufacturers association are some of the dignitaries selected to the advisory committee.

J Jayaseelan, who is also the Tamil Nadu branch secretary of IPA, said a total of Rs 102 lakh is the targeted expenditure for the convention and out of this Rs 70 lakh will be spent for the programme, and balance amount will be transferred to the IPA account. He said the purpose of the Association is to promote science and art of pharmacy in all aspects.

Even though the convention begins on March 12, the formal inaugural ceremony will be held only on March 13. There will be a Satellite workshop on stability testing for global submission by IPA-regulatory affairs division and IPA Tamil Nadu branch in association with the American Association of pharmaceutical scientists on March 12.