Referring to India as ‘the pharmacy of the world’, for Chemicals and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda said that this was once again proved during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic when India continued to produce and export critical life saving medicines to the rest of the world.
“The contribution of Indian pharmaceutical sector has been reinforced during this pandemic year when the companies, global and Indian, stepped in and stepped up their efforts in service of the country. I have no doubt to believe that these collaborations and the maturity demonstrated by the collaborations are going to define the Indian pharmaceutical sector in the years ahead,” he said while launching on December 17 the9th edition of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI)’s Annual Summit through the virtual platform.
He also noted that the country had attracted large-scale inflow of foreign direct investment to the pharmaceutical sector and the Medical Devices sector. “As a matter of record, pharmaceuticals export from India was over 20 billion dollars in the year 2019-20 and is expected to cross 25 billion dollars by the end of the current financial year. This was at a time when the domestic market has crossed 22 billion dollars last year. It is indeed poised for much higher growth,” he said.
The two day summit began with an address by OPPI President Sharad Tyagi on ‘Reimagining India’s Healthcare in the next decade’, followed by an address by OPPI Director General, K G Ananthakrishanan on ‘Refreshing Research’.
The summit also conferred Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr Y K Hamied, founder of Cipla Ltd and Special Recognition Award to Dr V G Somani, Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI).
In a special session on COVID19 Vaccine Updates, Johnson and Johnson Special Envoy for COVID-19 Vaccine Jaak Peeters, Head of Global Strategy and CEO, Specialty Generic Injectables and Synthetic Biology, Biological E Ltd Narender Mantena shared the global efforts on vaccine development. Managing Director of Janssen India Sarthak Ranade was also present.
Minister of State for ministry of Shipping, Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya will present On December 18 the Acess Awards – for Outstanding contribution in Child Health to Dr Aparna Hegde (Founder, Chairperson and Managing Trustee of ARMMAN) and Outstanding contribution in Healthcare Access to Harmala Gupta (Independent Non-Profit Organization Management Professional, Founder and President, CanSupport).
Dr Debabrata Dash of Banaras Hindu University,Varanasi, will be presented the OPPI Scientist of the Year; Dr Rituparna Sinha Roy of the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Kolkata will be given the OPPI Woman Scientist of the Year and Dr Arun Kumar Shukla, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur will be presented the OPPI Young Scientist of the Year.
The Summit will host five panel discussions on ‘India’s Healthcare Tranformation journey’ and the role of Finance, Technology, Trust and Quality in Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals sectors with Indian and global experts from governments, regulators, the industry, NGOs and the academia.
The two-day session will end on December 18 with a conversation with Mrs. Neerja Birla, founder & chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust on the siginificance of mental health during the current COVID19 crisis.
On the Summit, Sharad Tyagi said,“OPPI is glad to bring such high voltage disucssions on India’s Healthcare transformation during these testing times. Healthcare and pharmaceutical industry have worked hand in hand with the government and the regulators in the last 10 months to ensure that the COVID virus is controlled in our country with all our might. The summit will pave way to take these collaborations and partnerships to the next level.”
K G Ananthakrishnan said, “today more than ever, the world is looking for research and innovations to combat dieseases. As a society, we need to recognise and reward high risk innovations to strengthen the industry and thereby benefit the patients”.
