SME Times News Bureau | 21 Mar, 2019
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu recently said
that world class drugs with unwavering quality at very affordable prices is the
need of hour.
Naidu urged the Indian Pharmaceutical industry to
remain committed to high standards of quality in drug manufacturing and quality
frameworks.
Calling for strict adherence to global standards
in manufacturing drugs, he exhorted the industry to earmark more resources for
discovering new molecules and new drugs without compromising on the
affordability of drugs.
Addressing the 2nd decennial celebrations of
Sarojini Naidu Vanita Pharmacy Maha Vidyalaya, in Hyderabad, Naidu stressed the
need to give a thrust to research and innovation.
New healthcare challenges are emerging every day,
especially with an alarming rise in the number of non communicable and lifestyle
diseases and cancers, he added.
The Vice President said that India had become the
largest provider of generic drugs globally and in supplying anti-retroviral
drugs used worldwide to combat AIDS .
Naidu lauded the yeomen service rendered by
Indian companies in providing life saving medicines at affordable prices in the
developing countries.
Expressing his desire to see India emerge as the
world leader in generic medicines, Shri Naidu wanted the young researchers to
also work towards standardizing and benchmarking Indian systems of medicine.
He wanted them to use globally established
experimental protocols, to establish the efficiency, validity and efficacy of
the traditional medicines.
Naidu asked the Pharma companies to develop new
molecules and drugs to combat some of the lesser known diseases, particularly
the group of diseases called as “rare diseases”.
Saying that the number of people suffering from
rare diseases was estimated to be more than 70 million in India, the Vice
President said that it was important for the Indian Pharma industry to look
into the need for developing low-cost drugs for treating rare diseases.