The 58th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC), to be held in Mumbai from 1-3, December 2006, will set tone for the growth of Indian pharmaceutical industry for the next 15 years.
The Local Organizing Committee (LoC) of IPC has charted out a 'Vision 2020' document to realize the goals and to catapult the industry to face the challenges and requirements of the projected growth by 2020 or 2025. The ten-point vision document, which will be deliberated at the IPC in detail, will be presented to all the stakeholders and policy decision makers for further action. The IPA and other industry associations will follow up to implement the recommendations of Vision 2020, Dr.B.Suresh, president of Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association (IPCA) told Pharmabiz.
"There are various projections and predictions like $20 billion or $30 billion as the size of the Indian industry by 2010 or 2015 or 2020. But these experts are silent on how to achieve this target. Actually we have to do a realistic assessment of the industry, its strengths and areas of growth and then devise strategies that are helpful to achieve this target. The Vision 2020 document will be a blue-print for overall growth considering all the various segments of the industry that requires improvement/special attention to realize these targets," said Suresh.
He said the ten areas identified for the Vision 2020 document are Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Research and Development, Clinical Research, Manpower, Pharmacy Practices, Exports, Support for ISM sector, Regulatory Issues, Pharmaceutical Journalism and Documentation and Intellectual Property Rights. The experts will comprehensively analyze all these aspects and will come out with conclusions, which will be documented and submitted to the Government and other stakeholders for further action.
Suresh said the IPC Mumbai would be different from the previous editions, as special care has been given to make it a quality event of international standards. Serious deliberations by experts and sessions like success stories are aimed to attract more industry participation for the event. CphI is coming to India for the first time and already more than 15,000 sq.metre of space has been sold for the exhibition, in comparison to the maximum of 5000 odd sq. metre space that was sold for the previous edition of IPC in Hyderabad, he noted.
Vision 2020
1. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: The level of manufacturing excellence to be achieved by the Indian industry, including GMP compliance and adoption of futuristic manufacturing practices like cGMP and manufacturing outsourcing opportunities.
2. R&D: Thrust to help Indian companies increase investment in R&D to develop original molecules, especially with reference to the new Product Patent era.
3. Clinical Research: An emerging segment with huge potential, there is need to ensure international quality standards are followed, requirements of this segment, which is in its nascent stages in India.
4. Manpower: A major challenge for the Indian industry, growing significantly over the years. There is need to develop manifold quality manpower anticipating the requirements by 2020.
5. Pharmacy Practices: The Indian pharmacy profession needs drastic up gradation of services to achieve global standards. More responsibilities for community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists.
6. Exports: Needs to develop a comprehensive strategy to identify potential opportunities in various continents.
7. Support for ISM: Tapping the potential of Indian Systems of Medicine like Ayurveda by supporting in standardization and global acceptance and to develop drugs based on plant origin.
8. Regulatory issues: Need to transform the proposed Central Drug Authority as a proactive partner instead of policing and develop a comprehensive pharmaceutical policy for future.
9. Pharmaceutical Journalism & documentation: At present the status of pharmaceutical journalism and pharmaceutical knowledge documentation in India is in nascent stages and requires active interaction and support of the industry and academia to document its rich knowledge base.
10. IP rights: The Indian industry requires better understanding of IP rights and issues in the product patent era.