Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will approach statutory bodies like University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for introduction of new post graduate programmes that focus on specialized fields like drug discovery, regulatory affairs etc. The PCI attempt is aimed at generating sufficient human expertise for Indian drug industry as well as Indian drug regulatory system in the post 2005 era.

Speaking to Pharmabiz.com, Dr B Suresh, president PCI informed that the existing post graduates courses lacked this focus and the fresh graduates were not in a position to enter into frontier areas of pharmaceutical research. He highlighted the need for an inter-disciplinary approach when it comes to such specialized courses.

"Our attempt is to see how pharmacy curriculum at the post graduate level can be made more meaningful. We need to look at the needs of the industry. A shift to practical aspects from the conventional methods of learning is essential. I would propose two different streams running parallel to meet the diversified requirements of the industry, research community and regulatory agencies," Dr Suresh said.

While one stream would focus on preparing the students to enter community/clinical pharmacy the other stream will have a distinct industry focus. Dr Suresh was supportive of the present under graduate curriculum as the basic knowledge it imparts was found to be extremely important. However, at the postgraduate level, the PCI is to suggest several innovative programmes with a futuristic vision.

Dr Suresh informed that they would be meeting statutory bodies soon after the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) scheduled at Chennai to work out details of the new curriculum.

According to him, a special PG Programme on regulatory affairs is of much importance to both the drug regulatory department and the industry. This course should help one to groom a new generation of patent attorneys for the country. The specialized knowledge should also be of help to them while dealing with Indian regulatory system. It is soon to prove that B Pharm alone is not sufficient for a good specialized career, he opined.

Dr Suresh informed that the next executive committee meeting of Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy is to take place in India soon. The meeting will also discuss the need for comprehensive revamp of pharmacy curriculum in member countries, he said.