Indian pharma industry needs to ensure that quality standards that are incorporated at the drug development stage should continue till the drug reaches the end consumer, S Aparna, secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Govt of India, said while addressing the 7^th Global Pharmaceutical Quality Summit, organised by the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance. 

The theme of the conference was 'Making Quality Pharmaceuticals in India Sustainably' for the World.

New trends in quality have emerged and there are tools to monitor them and it is the need of the hour to incorporate them, Aparna emphasised and added that quality is of the paramount importance to maintain competitiveness in the global market.

She outlined three points that the government was working on. Primarily, there is a need to streamline regulation and accelerate the process of approval without compromising on the quality. The government will play the role of a facilitator and thereby help the industry, she said.

The second point was incentivising investment in the pharma sector. New areas like biopharmaceuticals, gene therapy would need a good amount of investment and the government will support companies engaged in this sector, she informed.

Finally, she said that there needs to be collaboration between industry and academia as well as amongst different segment of the industry. This collaboration needs to be institutionalised and industry needs to create a culture of cooperation, which is more supportive and collaborative, Aparna opined adding that a lot can be achieved by peer learning and the benefits will accrue through access to global markets.

She also hihglighted government's initiatives like the Productivity Linked Incentive Scheme and many others to support the industry.

She appreciated the role of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance in promoting quality of excellence and said that their role in working with MSMEs to adhere to quality norms was timely.

Welcoming the particuipants, Sudarshan Jain, Secretary-General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, outlined the steps that the Alliance has taken and pointed out that they have been focussing on educating the industry on the latest quality standards since 2016. 

Jain added that the key is to make quality medicine sustainably for the world and for that the organisation has been taking various initiatives. The two-day event is set to witness the participation of 1000+ delegates.