A two days workshop on "Indian pharmaceutical industry: technological challenges", was organised on March 20 - 21, 2003 at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali. The workshop was sponsored by Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers, Government of India.

Topics for discussion in the workshop included - Trends in bulk drug and formulation technologies, Challenges in pharmaceutical R & D, Eco-friendly unit processes for bulk drugs, Chiral synthesis, Developments in bulk drug processing equipments, Novel drug delivery systems, Formulation aspects of Indian systems of medicine, Impurity profiling of the pharmaceuticals, Issues of bioavailability and bio-equivalence of controlled release products.

Dr. C L Kaul, Director, NIPER said, "It is quite clear that technology is going to be the driving feature of all these future endeavors. The technology forms the backbone of not only the primary process involving the production of various bulk drugs from raw materials and the intermediates but also the secondary processes involving conversion of bulk drug into formulations. Bulk drug synthesis and processes have been developed that are more efficient, safe and environment friendly and cost effective. Impressive strides have been made in the field of process controls with computers assisted data acquisition and process monitoring becoming the order of the day. Similarly formulation technology has increasingly become sophisticated in terms of designing of delivery systems and manufacturing technology. Traditional strengths of Indian systems of medicine are further being consolidated by using innovative technological tools in their development and manufacturing. All the future business activities are going to be significantly affected by how quickly and effectively, majority of Indian companies, embrace these technological advances for betterment of the their product portfolios."