The executive committee of the Kerala Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (KPMA) has decided to build a long run relation with academia and traders in the state in order to expand the activities of the association and facilitate research in the pharmaceutical sector, sources from KPMA informed.

The EC meeting held at Thrissur last week under the chairmanship of AMD Nambudiri, managing director of Chethana Pharma felt that lack of linkages among industry, academia and traders had weakened the growth of manufacturing industry and drug research activities in Kerala. Further, the  pharmacy students are not sufficiently getting trainings in the industrial units in the state. Lack of organisational relation between traders and manufacturers causes sufferings to the manufacturing units and they face difficulty to survive. Nambudiri said the new initiative would help both the traders and the manufacturers in a big way to develop their business.

“The association’s activities were confined to one district till now, and since there were very few members actively engaged in the association work, no fruitful activity could be carried out in the state till now. Considering the present situation in the national level, the association has decided to strengthen its activities associating with chemists and druggists and pharmacy colleges. Our EC has chalked out a plan which would bring the traders and the academia under one roof,” he said.

KP Purushothaman, president of KPMA said the new decision of the association would be a big advantage for the pharmacy colleges in the state as currently the students of the colleges here are visiting industrial units outside of Kerala for practical and training purposes. “There are over 40 pharmacy colleges in Kerala churning out hundreds of graduates and diploma holders in pharmacy every year. But most of these fresh graduates are not sufficiently trained to take up jobs in the drug industry which is a very specialized industry with unique requirements of education and skill. The necessary education in different aspects like pharmacology, pharmaceutics etc. is being given by these colleges. But, their skills need to be developed in various functional disciplines such as analytical, quality management, manufacturing etc.,” Purushothaman added.

To a query he said the association would conduct a state level meeting of traders and manufacturers with a view to strengthen the organisation. According to him, unlike other states the chemists and druggists association in Kerala is showing a big brother attitude towards the manufacturers’ association. However he would try to associate with them for the development of pharma industry in the state.

When asked about the support from Kerala government, Purushothaman said the state government is doing nothing for the growth of pharma industry in Kerala. The association will soon approach the government and the medical services corporation with further representations.

With the support of traders and pharmacy colleges, KPMA would organize workshops, seminars and training programmes on different areas on the pharma sector inviting leading industry heads to deliver talks.  The first of its kind programme is a seminar on new DPCO 2013 targeting manufacturers and traders, Purushothaman told Pharmabiz.