National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) is soon to have a GMP compliant model manufacturing facility for giving effective training to the drug regulatory authorities. The pilot facility can also be a model for the small scale pharmaceutical manufacturers who are looking for upgradation of their facilities to the GMP standards.

The Institute has already received necessary sanctions for setting up the unit and would be ready with the facility soon, sources said.

It should be noted that NIPER is the official nodal agency for all training programmes planned under the World Bank assisted capacity building programme in food and drugs sector. The model facility would avoid the dependence on private firms when it comes to demonstration of GMP requirements.

NIPER is to train over 500 pharmaceutical professionals through various continuing education programmes scheduled for the current year. While four such workshops meant for staff from private testing laboratories, production and analytical staff from SSIs, and drug regulatory personnel are already over, rest are to take place in the coming months.

The forthcoming workshops would find analytical and production staff from SSI units, analysts from state government drug testing labs and regulatory officials from various states attending the programmes.