Following the Pharmabiz report last week on the furore to enquire the motive to start Pharmexcil, the Pharmaceutical and Export Promotion Council has written a letter to the MP concerned clarifying its stand, D B Mody, chairman, Pharmexcil told an industry gathering in Chennai.

While addressing a meeting on patent laws organized by IDMA and Pharmexcil on Saturday, D B Mody clarified he has written a letter to Abini Roy, the Rajya Sabha member who demanded to probe the circumstances on formation of Pharmexcil. Quoting the Pharmabiz report, he noted he had clarified to the Rajya Sabha member that formation of Pharmexcil was a long pending demand of the industry, and was established with the support of industry associations like OPPI, IDMA and BDMA.

"There may be some confusion in your minds following the Pharmabiz report detailing the demands of the MPs. I use this opportunity to clarify our stand. I don't want to comment on the related issue to Chemexcil," elaborated the Pharmexcil chairman.

Later interacting with Pharmabiz on the sidelines of the meeting, Mody said he wrote in his letter to the MP that the industry requires an exclusive export promotion council. Since Chemexcil has to deal to with a plethora of products and chemicals, it may not be easy for that organization to concentrate much on the affairs of pharma and related industries. Further, the Pharmexcil has wide opportunities to concentrate on other areas of the healthcare segment like medical tourism, hospital equipments, treatment segment, R&D related to the industry etc.

"An exclusive professional body with in-depth knowledge is required to handle the export affairs of this industry, with various segments. This I have clarified to the MP in my letter," said D B Mody, who wondered what would have been the benefit for the industry when Chemexcil is run and headed by non-pharma professionals.

As Pharmabiz reported last week, two Rajya Sabha members in separate complaints to Kamal Nath, union minister of commerce, had sought high-level investigations into the activities of both the councils. While Karnendu Bhattacharjee wanted the government to explain the rationale behind the existence of two councils for the same sector, Abani Roy called for a high level investigation into the motive of the former government to sanction Pharmexcil without proper scrutiny. In a separate letter, the latter accused Chemexcil to be functioning in a non-democratic manner and stated that there was no authenticated and updated list of electoral members and lists are manipulated.