Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya said the government would encourage industry to invest in research and development in specific priority areas, such as medical devices and health technologies.
”The government has initiated various steps such as pharma innovation. A new programme to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals is being taken up through Centres of Excellences (CoEs),” he said while chairing the first governing council meeting of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs) last evening.
Research and innovation, he said, were necessary for the sustained growth of the pharmaceuticals sector. ”Our focus must shift from self-sustenance model to profit model through expanding research base, creating industry connect and ramping up infrastructure.”
Mandaviya said the expertise of human resources must be utilised along with the implementation of best practices from other institutions. ”Only then will we be able to make NNIPERs the centre for high-quality research and create a fundamental base for pharmaceutical innovation in the country.”
The minister reiterated the government’s commitment to strengthening the holistic research ecosystem in the pharma sector and the brand NIPER.
”We must come up with competitive and commercially viable solutions through our NIPERs. This can only happen through robust collaboration and consultations not just among NIPERs but relevant research institutions like the Department of Biotechnology, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, ICMR, DRDO etc. In this regard, formal and informal interactions among peers, and researchers need to take place,” the minister said.
Speaking about strengthening institutional capacities, he urged all the participants to adapt to the fast-paced world of technology and focus on making the country self-sufficient in the most critical technologies of the future. ”We must work with the needs of modern times and the country’s requirements. Best practices from the world must be adopted and implemented after being modified to the local needs,” he added.
To give a push to R&D efforts and give them more exposure for commercialisation, Mandaviya suggested “expanding the research repository for better visibility to all stakeholders. This would further create better coordination among researchers and synergise efforts in creating more translational research towards commercially viable products.”
