Affordable treatment for the common man should be the focus of any drug development and the important aspect to be considered while engaging in the discovery of drugs is the effective cure for diseases, said Dr T Ramaswami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST).

He was inaugurating the short term medicinal course for industrial and academic scientists at Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai.

“We also need a greater insight into chemical biology to bring about cure for diseases that can be affordable by people at large. Building collaborative excellence among industry, academia and research institutions to bring about ultimate benefit to patients is necessary. Government is giving the highest focus for public private partnership programmes in this regard,” he added.

Sri Ramachandra University and Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the occasion.

K Raghavendra Rao, CMD, Orchid Chemicals said India, which is now exporting generic drugs, is well on its way to invent new drugs and produce it for the world. The MoU, he said, will provide facility for students and faculty to have internship and knowledge development at Orchid Chemicals. Further, the scientists at the company will teach and share their knowledge with medicinal chemistry students and also collaborate in joint drug development, he added.

The International Conference on Medicinal Chemistry 2013 was organized by Sri Ramachandra University and sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, American Chemical Society, The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, USA.

Dr SP Thyagarajan, dean research who signed on behalf of SRU said the medicinal chemistry course for industrial and academic scientists is based on the success of Drew University Residential School on Medicinal Chemistry, USA. It will bring together leading industrial and academic experts to present lectures on key topics. Ten international resource persons, 90 scientists from pharma companies and 30 academicians participated in the conference, he said.

Dr Balu N Balasubramaniam from Pharma Innovation Sourcing Centre, USA expressed the hope that this new collaborative knowledge will result in valuable intellectual property in the near future.