Under the aegis of Ramanbhai Foundation, an international research symposium is organized for the first time in Ahmedabad, dedicated to various aspects of drug discovery. The symposium hosted by the Zydus Research Centre, the research and development arm of Zydus Cadila, will be held on the 23rd and 24th of January 2003. The theme of the symposium is "Recent Trends in Pharmaceutical Sciences."

Twenty speakers from leading global pharma companies, research institutes and universities will be speaking on various aspects related to drug discovery such as role of receptors in the etiology of diseases, lead identification and optimization, synthesis, separation technology, pre-clinical and clinical development of New Molecular Entities (NMEs) patent issues and regulatory aspects. More than 500 delegates are expected to take part in the symposium.

The symposium is of significance as it deals with the development of new molecules from the laboratory to the market. Drug discovery is a relatively new field in India with many of the Indian pharmaceutical companies now entering the fray to meet the challenges of the Post 2005 era. An insight into the recent advances by researchers who have longstanding experience in this field will thus be an important knowledge sharing opportunity for Indian researchers.

The symposium will comprise four main sessions dealing with medicinal chemistry, separation technology, pre-clinical and clinical development, parents, ICH guidelines and business development. The most recent advances such as role of PPARs in metabolism and cell physiology, the future in chiral resolutions, new paradigms of drug discovery and evolving paradigms of pre-clinical drug development processes will be explored and dealt with during the symposium

The panel of speakers includes scientists and professionals from Bristol-Myers Squibb, U.S.A. Altana Pharma AG, Germany, Novartis AG, Switzerland, Purdue Pharma LP, U.S.A. Sankyo Japan, Johnson and Johnson U.S.A. Quintiles Transnational Corp, U.S.A. researchers form Kyoto University, Japan, Sunderland University, U.K. University of Connecticut, U.S.A, University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany, National Institute of Ageing, U.S.A., Institute De Biologie Animale, Switzerland and CDRI, India.

Speaking at the press meet, Pankaj R. Patel, Chairman and Managing Director Zydus Cadila said, "Leveraging our intellectual capital will play a crucial role in optimizing early gains in the field of Pharmaceutical research. This is of strategic importance to India not only form the point-of-view the Post-2005 era, but also in terms of emerging as a global research hub riding on back of its twin advantages as a low cost centre with abundant human capital. So stepping up our research expertise and gaining exposure to international standards will give us the much needed edge in the new research landscape that is rapidly evolving."