IDMA's Golden Jubilee Celebration emphasizes on the revival of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry to meet the global standards

On the eve of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association’s (IDMA) Golden Jubilee Celebrations, the Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh said there is an urgent need to revamp the regulatory system by making it user friendly and globally acceptable. Mr. Deshmukh who inaugurated IDMA’s Golden Jubilee Celebration also said that there is also a need for the expansion of public-private partnership in the industry and an improved focus on drug discovery.

Inauguration of IDMA’s Golden Jubilee Celebration kick started with much fanfare on January 6, 2012 in Mumbai. The celebration observed the participation of key industry leaders and other regulatory authorities. Elaborating his thoughts over the revival of the Pharma Industry, Mr. Deshmukh said, “The industry and government should work in tandem to meet the challenges faced by the pharmaceutical sector. Similarly modern scientific methodologies should be utilized to produce herbal drugs at an affordable cost.”  

Supporting the views of Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh on the status of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, Mr. Rajeev Kher, Additional Secretary to the Union Ministry, Department of Commerce said, “After the free trade agreement is signed, the industry should immediately strategize a plan to tap the market. Based on FTA, there is need to prepare necessary road maps, identify the bottle-necks and prepare a protocol with the required dos and don’ts. China and Japan are the markets to look for by the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry. Japan has opened its generic markets to the Indian pharma industry and has promised that Indian companies will be given the same importance given to their Japanese counterparts”.

Mr. Kher added, “China has a potential pharma market of $ 74 billion dollar and Indian industry needs to draw a plan based on the regulatory mechanism of that country, to tap that market efficiently.” He noted that the pharma exports have grown to 10.5 billion dollar in 2011-2012 compared to 6 billion dollar in 2006-2007, a CAGR growth of 16 per cent.”

Addressing the 50th Annual Celebration of IDMA, Mr. N. R. Munjal, President of IDMA said, “IDMA has come a long way in the past 50 years and it is due to the combined efforts of our past presidents, office bearers, state boards, advisers and the general membership that we are today the apex body of pharmaceutical manufacturers. Our achievements, initiatives and activities in the last many years have been well represented within the country as well as abroad. IDMA has always emphasized our active role as the ‘Voice of the National Sector’.”          

“To celebrate our golden jubilee, IDMA has raised Rs 2 crore, which will be utilized to organize educational programs to the less affordable. We have also raised Rs 1 crore for distributing free anti-cancer drugs to three main cancer hospitals in the country like Tata Memorial Hospital, Delhi State Cancer Institute and Gujarat Cancer Institute of Research,” said Mr. Daara Patel, Secretary General, IDMA.

Talking about IDMA’s initiative, Mr. N.I Gandhi, Chairman of the Golden Jubilee Celebration Committee of IDMA, said, 

“IDMA has been instrumental in contributing to the improvement in the quality of life of our people. Over the last 50 years, the life expectancy of our people has increased to 68.4years from 41 years. IDMA has done a remarkable job in the field of education whereby IDMA has funded to the varied range of educational programs and has also supported government’s ‘Save the Girl Child’ campaign.”  

The incoming president of IDMA, Manish Doshi said, “The challenges of globalization are not only affecting the advanced markets but also the emerging markets. I’m very happy to spearhead the new role of IDMA president. We will make a review, and prioritise our focus on markets that will be more value generating for the industry.”   

As a mark of celebration, the two-day conference organized by IDMA will observe varied range of programs for the associates of different pharmaceutical companies. Programs included motivational workshop by the renowned motivational guru Mr. Shiv  Khera. Other programs involved honouring the past presidents of IDMA at the hands of legendary super star Amitabh Bachchan and discussions on the way ahead for Indian Pharma and other entertainment programs whereby noted singer Sonu Nigam sung his popular songs.