Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) will soon commence work for setting up National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) institutes at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Madurai in the next two years time. Each institute will be set up at a cost of Rs. 450 crore.

NIPER like institutes will be opened in all parts of the country in tie up with medical and technical universities. According to DoP Secretary Dr V K Subburaj, the centre operating at Mohali in Chandigarh is the only one functioning in a full fledged manner. Other units are required to individually develop and function without dependence on the mentor institutes. All the other units need more attention to develop.  

The government of Tamil Nadu has already allotted 100 acres of land for the setting up NIPER at Madurai. The Institute will be modeled on the lines of IITs and will be in tie up with Madurai Kamaraj University.

Currently, NIPERs are located at Mohali, Hajipur, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Rae Bareli. These centres are working under various institutes in each state. About 40 to 50 students are coming out from each institute every year.

In the year 2007, the union cabinet had granted in-principle approval for the setting up of six new NIPERs across the country at Guwahati, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Rae Bareli and Hajipur and commencement of classes with the help of mentor institutes. In 2011, the cabinet finally approved establishment of six new NIPERs and the classes had already started. The only condition that was put by the cabinet was that the land for new NIPERs should be given by the respective state governments free of cost.

Viewing future potential for job opportunities, NIPER centres across the country will focus more on areas of biotechnology as today biotechnology products is more of a domain of the private sector. Biotechnology production which is estimated at Rs. 20,000 crore today will be increased to five lakh crore in the next 12 years. The sector has the potential to serve life-sciences industry and pharmacy.

In July 2009, a team of experts from the DoP had made two rounds of visits to the identified land in Madurai and a project report was submitted to the then union minister of chemicals and fertilizers. It was announced then that the Institute would start with three courses, pharma informatics, pharmaceutical biotechnology & pharmacology, and toxicology and biotechnology. Classes for the courses could be started either at Madurai Medical College or at Madurai Kamaraj University.