Pharmexcil to be headquartered in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The proposed Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) will have its headquarters at Hyderabad said Mr. Venkat Jasti, president BDMA-Hyderabad in his inaugural address at the National Seminar on pharma marketing organised by the Institute of Technology & Management (ITM) in association with FAPCCI and with the support of Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association-Hyderabad and Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Hyderabad Chapter here.

Jasti said drugs and pharmaceuticals would now have a separate export promotion council and would be the first such body to promote the exports of the pharma industry.

He said the council would be set up with a corpus amount of Rs 3 crore, which has been sanctioned by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Efforts are also on to create infrastructure and a convention hall for Pharmexcil. "We are also requesting AP government to allot us 10 acre of land near Madhapur in Hyderabad for setting up an office. The offices of other pharma bodies such as: BDMA; IDMA; IPA; OPPI; too would be located at Pharmaexcil, he added.

The National Pharma Marketing Conference was inaugurated by Mr. Ravipati Ranga Rao, joint director, drug control & administration, Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The first ever national seminar on pharma marketing was attended by over 150 delegates from industry and research bodies. Mr. O.P Goenka, vice president of FAPCCI, Prof. P V Ramana, chancellor of ITM University spoke on the occasion.

The speakers felt tough times were looming for the Indian pharma industry after 2005. The hurdles include problems on intellectual property rights, calls for technical harmonisation based on US standards, tightening of product registration procedures in every country and various non-tariff barriers on pharmaceuticals to prevent competition from cost-effective countries such as India.

The participants discussed various issues regarding the post WTO scenario and strategies to be adopted for sustained future growth. Some of these topical subjects include "Indian Pharmaceutical Industry - Where We Are Heading To?; WTO Impact & Indian Pharmaceutical Industry; Direct to Consumer(DTC) Promotion-The Role In The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry; Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Pharma Branding and others.

The Convention was organised in the backdrop of India joining the group of nations that adhere to the WTO (World Trade Organisation) Norms. The full day convention was thus organised to ''share,'' ''deliberate,'' ''debate,'' ''evolve'' and ''strategise'' for future.

The convention was coordinated and organised by MBA students, specialising in pharmaceutical management from the Institute for Technology and Management (ITM).

Dr. Aswani Kumar, director of ITM said, "Our institution would like to contribute in its own small way by making a conscious effort to shoulder the responsibility as a facilitator for the first pharmaceutical marketing convention. This, he felt, would offer young pharmaceutical managers an invaluable opportunity to associate with the pioneering efforts made by the industry captains in facing the challenges of pharmaceutical marketing.