Under India’s Foreign Policy of Ministry of External Affairs, GOI, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, S.A.S. Nagar (NIPER, SAS Nagar, the institute of National Importance & NIRF Rank 1 institute under Pharmacy Category) organized a two-week Intensive Training Program on Recent Trends and Challenges in Biopharmaceuticals from 3rd to 13th October, 2018. Total 23 participants from 12 different countries (Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Cuba, Ethiopia, Honduras, Kenya, Mauritius, Peru, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uzbekistan) with background of Biotechnology, Pharmacy and Drug Regulatory, attended this course. NIPER SAS Nagar is conducting such training programmes sponsored by the Ministory of External Affairs since last 20 years. This training programme was concluded today on 13th October 2018. For the valedictory function of this programme, Dr. Vijayalakshmi Deshmane, BoG Member, NIPER S.A.S Nagar & Professor & HoD, Department of Surgical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangluru, was the chief guest.Prof Sanjay Jachak, Course Coordinator of ITEC at NIPER, welcomed the guest and the participants to the valedictory session and informed that the ITEC is the flagship programme of the Indian Government's capacity building effort.Dr. Abhay H Pande, coordinator for this course presented a detailed report of the course regarding various activities that took place during the last two weeks, to the guest and the participants.
Dr. Pande informed that 15 resource persons from the academia, biopharmaceutical industry, and regulatory agencies delivered lectures and participated in the deliberations. Two sessions were held on hands on experience training on different biotechnology techniques. Visit to Central Research Institute, Kasauli and Panacea Biotec Limited, Lalru, Punjab were also a part of this ITEC program.Six participants expressed their views about the course. They thanked Ministry of External Affairs, GOI, for conducting this excellent course. They also praised NIPER for sharing the skill and knowledge it has which is a rare gesture. One of the participant from Algeria, Dr. Bouras Slimane, especially thanked the Institute and course coordinator about the way this course was conducted effectively and quoted ‘India has emerged as a main actor in the biopharmaceutical field’. He stated that all the participants have learned many new thing during this course which will be of immense help for them in there career.Prof Raghuram Rao Akkinepally, Director NIPER, addressed the gathering and said that participation of so many delegates from a number of countries through ITEC programmes, NIPER has been internationalized. He said that the biopharmaceuticals are the fastest growing sector of the pharmaceutical industry and could become the core of the pharmaceutical industry. He also applauded efforts of NIPER being made in the past 20 years to organize various training programs under ITEC, Ministry of External Affairs. He also thanked Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer, GOI for continuous support.
Further he introduced Dr. Vijayalakshmi Deshmane, chief guest of the function to the audience.Dr. Vijayalakshmi Deshmane, one of the India’s most reputed oncologists, praised NIPER Mohali for not only producing skilled man power but also engaging in world-class research. She quoted from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s book (India Vision 2020) that ‘a great Nation can only be shaped by healthy individuals’ and said that technology is a core strength of the Nations and is important in combating the dangers posed by existing and new forms of diseases. She further said that any society will be judged by its ability to provide universal health care for its people. She said that cancer, cardiac disease, hypertension, diabetes are all life-style disorders and urged the scientists and participants to focus the research on life-style disorders. She also expressed that our life span has increased so we have geriatric problems and urged the scientific community to concentrate on geriatric diseases and research.At the end, dignitaries distributed the certificates to the participants. Prof P. V. Bharatam, Dean NIPER, proposed a vote of thanks to the MEA and participants for making the programme a success. He urged the participants to encourage their colleagues to apply for the upcoming ITEC course at NIPER during November 2018.