A intensive course on “Modern Analytical Techniques in Quality Control of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals” was organized from September 1-19, 2003. The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab under the aegis of Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) & Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme (SCAAP) of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, conducted this Fifth three-week course.
Twenty-six participants drawn from the Pharmacy boards, Drug quality control and Drug authorities of 13 countries (Bhutan, Armenia, Nigeria, Thailand, Mali, Myanmar, Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Mauritius, Grenade and Uganda) and selected Indian participants from pharmaceutical industry and academia attended it.
The course was sponsored by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programs and Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan (SCAAP) program.
The course was inaugurated by Dr. K. P. Madhusudanan, Scientist G & Head, RSIC, delivered the keynote address. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Madhusudanan emphasized the need for strengthening the quality control in drugs and pharmaceuticals and the role that NIPER can play in this process. He further suggested that there may be a need for regulation, which is scientific, objective, and non-partisan.
The classroom sessions and laboratory training were conducted in four modules spread over two weeks on all aspects of quality assessment of drugs and pharmaceuticals and modern instrumental techniques.
The lectures organized were Trends in quality control of pharmaceuticals, Drug identification and qualitative analysis, Quantitative drug analysis using modern instruments, analysis of biotech products and herbal drug standardization and Quality control and functionality test. Each session was followed by an interactive session with the participants.
In the third week, foreign participants were taken for field visits to leading pharmaceutical units like Unichem, Baddi; Ranbaxy Laboratory, Toansa and Morepen, Baddi.
The course was administered by Dr. C.L. Kaul, Director and Coordinated by Sh. Subrata Sarkar, Registrar. Dr. Arvind Bansal, Prof. A.K. Chakraborti, Prof. Ramesh Panchagnula and Prof. Saranjit Singh, NIPER were the module coordinators for the four different modules.
The Course was fifth in the series to be conducted at NIPER for pharmaceutical professionals. According to the response received from Indian embassies in participating countries, there has been a very positive outcome of the efforts being done by NIPER and the courses are helping in improving the image of Indian pharmaceutical products abroad.