The fraternity of pharmaceutical scientists in the country felicitated Prof H L Bhalla for receiving the Lifetime Achievement in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Award 2008 from International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

The organisations of pharmaceutical scientists - the Controlled Release Society - Indian Chapter (CRS-IC), Mumbai-based SciTech Centre (the R&D centre of solid dosage systems and packaging products firm ACG Worldwide), Ahmedabad-based B V Patel PERD Centre Trust and the Nagai Foundation, the Tokyo-based non-profit organization for promoting pharmacy research, education and alliance - gathered in Mumbai to congratulate the eminent scientist for the achievement. Prof Bhalla is the first Indian scientist to get the FIP's Lifetime Achievement Award.

The FIP Lifetime Achievement in Pharmaceutical Sciences Award is presented biennially to an individual who has displayed a longstanding commitment to the advancement of the pharmaceutical sciences. The award was presented to Prof Bhalla during the opening ceremony of the FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences 2008 in Basel, Switzerland.

Indravadan A Modi, chairman, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Pankaj R Patel, CMD, Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Dr Amarjit Singh, president, CRS-IC, Ajit Singh, chairman, ACG Worldwide, Prof Nagai, president, Nagai Foundation, Anant R Thakore, chairman, B V Patel PERD Centre Trust, Leslie Z Benet, member in the board of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the FIP and Dr Ashok Vaidya, eminent Ayurvedic scientist and director of SPARC remarked their pleasure in Prof Bhalla's achievement. Various national and international experts in pharmaceutical science were present in the felicitation programme.

Professor Bhalla has been working as principal of Bombay College of Pharmacy (BCP) and had a major role in setting up of the B V Patel Pharmaceutical Education and Research Development Centre (PERD Centre). In 1997, Prof. Bhalla joined the SciTech Center as Advisor and Coordinator of External Research Projects where he coordinated various international conferences attended by over 5000 Indian and international scientists. He is also the founder chairman and president Emeritus of the Indian Chapter of Controlled Release Society, USA.