Mysuru: If all goes well, then Pharmaceutical sector may get its own ministry soon.
Speaking about the same after inaugurating the 67th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) hosted by Indian Hospital Pharmacists’ Association (IHPA), under the IPC Association (IPCA), at JSS University in Bannimantap here, Ananth Kumar said that pharmaceutical sector would have its own ministry by the next Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) to be held in Vishakhapatnam.
“In the 1960s the sector was under the Defence Ministry, then it moved to Petrochemicals and Natural Gas Ministry. Now, it is under a separate department of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers,” he said, speaking about the need to have a separate ministry for a vast sector like Pharmaceutical.
Listing out three As and three Ds for becoming number one in the world in production of drugs and medical devices, Kumar said that the three As are authenticity, availability and affordability and the three Ds are discovery, bulk drugs and devices.
“The Indian pharmaceutical industry is already number three in the world in terms of the volume of production of drugs and it is number 10 in terms of the worth. If the cost of production is brought down by at least 30 per cent, India can become number one. To help the industry reduce costs, the government is planning pharma clusters to provide common facilities. Incentives may be paid for fair practices and achievements,” he said adding that Indian drugs were available in more than 200 nations across the globe and that they were the only drugs matching the standards set by the Food and Drug Administration of the US, after the US industries.
He suggested that the industry should concentrate on discovery of new drugs.
