Dr Surinder Singh, director-in-charge, National Institute of Biologicals, (NIB), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, has been featured in the list of the world’s 40 most influential people in the global pharma industry, third time in a row, for his valuable contribution to the pharma industry.

Dr Singh has been recognised for his contribution for improving India’s regulatory system in his capacity as the former DCGI for launching the pharmacovigilance programme of India (PvPI) to study the adverse effect of drugs and for strengthening the number of drug inspectors to maintain quality parameters in the countries from which India imports drugs.

Adjudged by a panel of experts from the UK based pharma magazine called, ‘World Pharmaceutical Frontiers’, the list comprises of renowned businesspersons, philanthropists, scientists, regulators and legislators like Bill & Melinda Gates; president Barrack Obama; Dr Margaret Chan, WHO; and Bill Clinton, founder William J Clinton Foundation, amongst others. Dr Singh was first acknowledged by the publication is 2008 for bringing in regulatory stability in an extremely dynamic and even more volatile Indian pharma market since then he has moved up the rank. In 2011, Dr Singh moved up by five positions over the previous year’s ranking of 34s, and has been ranked at number 29.

While he currently serves as director-in-charge of NIB, Dr Singh has previously served at various international bodies of repute in different capacities in the past. In his career span of about 24 years Dr Singh has to his credit 27 scientific publications, 70 biological manufacturing unit inspections and numerous assessments and trainings.