From left: Prof P Rama Rao, director, NIPER; Prof Ranjit R Chaudhary, clinical pharmacologist & chairman, Apollo Task Force for Research, New Delhi; Dr Vasantha Muthuswamy, former dy director general, ICMR.

The curtains for the three-day symposium on 'Clinical Research & Training' went up today at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Punjab. Padama Shree Prof Ranjit Roy Chaudhary, clinical pharmacologist and chairman, Apollo Task Force for research, Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, inaugurated the symposium.

"I have been closely associated with NIPER and admire the commitment of this institute towards the excellence," said Prof Ranjit Roy Chaudhary, while delivering inaugural speech. He added that health at last has come to the centre stage with the development phase of the country.

"In the field of health, medicines play a very important part. Every 5th drug used by any one in the world is produced at India. We have shown our strength by the production of retroviral drugs at the cheaper cost. Almost 14 compounds discovered in Indian laboratories are under clinical trials," he noted while driving home India's capabilities in clinical research.

The symposium is expected to give an excellent opportunity for participants to exchange ideas with reference to the clinical research. Using this platform, a model syllabus would be reportedly developed that would fortify the clinical research training in broader aspects.

"The presence of distinguished expert speakers from the clinical industry, medical institutions and regulatory body will sure, help the participants to understand the finer issues on clinical research," NIPER sources said.