PES College of Pharmacy (PESCP) commemorated the Golden Jubilee of the National Pharmacy Week (NPW) highlighting the  job opportunities and  challenges in technology scale-up.  The week long celebrations observed from November 21 to 26,  2011 has speakers from the industry to provide a snap shot of the pharma industry.

Debkiron Mukherjee , senior scientist, Alkem Lab Ltd, Bangalore,  an alumnus of PESCP, provided an overview on process development of active pharmaceutical ingredient(API). He also gave an in-depth perspective on the steps involved in the scale-up  of APIs besides addressing the  challenges faced in technology transfer and maintaining critical process parameters.

“Despite the hurdles in molecular drug design, there are promising job opportunities for graduates and post graduates, stated Suresh R Babu, vice president, drug product development, Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. Lexington, USA.

Samson P George,  member, Karnataka State Pharmacy Council, created an awareness of services rendered by the Drug Information Centre (DIC) among students. He also informed that the  public could have round-the-clock and free access to information at the KPSC ‘independent drug information centre.

A talk on entrepreneurship was delivered by Jatish N Seth,  director-technical, Srushti Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, where he provided the  success and risk factors involved in starting an enterprise.  “The growth of Indian pharmaceutical sector had increased  career avenues which covered  contract research, bulk drugs, formulations, exports, domestic market, clinical research, pharma e-commerce, IT and IPR,” he added.

Prakash NS, senior research scientist, Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore spoke on “Activity guided fractionation for the development of natural products (anti cancer) with reference to Terpenoids” where he stressed upon the practical aspects involved in extraction and analysis of active constituents of natural products by HPTLC.

Gundu Rao, president, KSPC stated pharmacy was  not merely a trade, but a profession marked by human touch.   He emphasized that only when pharmacists sharpen their acumen and provide more details about the drugs dispensed they would be able to  make their presence felt.

In a bid to prevent and control the onset of diabetes which affected 60 million Indians, the event had  Dr Raveendra K R Consultant Physician and Diabetologist, Associate Prof of Medicine, Bangalore Medical College,  attributing the prime cause of the condition and increased number of cases to westernized life-styles.  He said that the condition which was a  slow killer, was not a disease but a disorder which required drugs, diet, stress control  and regular exercise.