Call to strengthen academia-industry partnership in pharma sector

The role of academia in strengthening the Indian pharma industry and boosting research was debated at Synergy 2018, a NIPER-pharma industry workshop held recently in Hyderabad.

Ms. Shashi Bala Singh, Director of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad, said the institute was trying to drive basic research and translational research by bringing together academia and industry on the same platform.

Speaking at the event, Mr. G. N. Singh, Secretary-cum-Scientific Director, Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, said that big innovations come from simple ideas and not just infrastructure facilities.

Industry representatives felt that technology reproducibility was important in the Indian context. Multi-disci-plinary research and studies should be encouraged and sustenance of such research can be enhanced by having industrial collaborations.

Panellists at the event also felt that the industry could change tremendously in the coming decade with a strong influence of regulatory aspect on its growth. Similarly, speakers felt that investment-oriented thinking of industries and basic research-oriented thinking of academics should resonate in the same frequency in order to bridge the gap and strengthen collaborations.