The Second Symposium of ISTHMUS

The second symposium of ISTHMUS was successfully organized at B.J Hall, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai on the 22nd of February,2009.

Dr. Venkateswarlu Ex DCGI of India as the chief guest who inaugurated the seminar and gave a key note address on the healthcare status of the country. He gave a good insight into the important, potential and the future prospects of planning for this sector which will facilitate development of a healthy India.

Dr. Suresh Saravdekar Asst Director, Medical Procurement, J.J Hospital spoke on the concept of total healthcare giving direction the process which can address in a planned manner the achievement of objectives of  healthcare.

The New Drug Discovery Presentation made by Dr V.S.V Rao. V .  V.P.- R&D, Nektar Therapeutics was indeed very educative and could clearly see the difficulty and challenges faced by the pharmaceutical companies in developing a new molecule.

Dr. Paramjit Singh, Manager-Pharma Research Panacea Biotec Ltd.  provided the details on the formulation development and the various steps that are involved in the registration and approval a new formulation which was indeed very interesting.

Mr. Bharat Parwani senior director, Business development, Sanofi-Aventis, spoke on the topic ‘Return on investment’ He added that the decline in research and development

Dr. Milind Antani, senior Member Pharma and Life Science Practice, Nishith Desai Associates, explained to us the background, objective, the reason of Mergers and Acquisitions and also the consequent impact it will have on the Pharma industry. He also explained to us some of the legal aspects pertaining to the Pharma industry.

Dr. Shrihari Shidhaye, GM Abott India gave a new insight into the role which neutraceuticals is likely to play in the healthcare industry. He highlighted that the contribution of neutraceuticals is bound to increase in India as more and more people are getting aware and conscious about the role of neutraceuticals in the management of health. This aspect is already visible in the food industry.

Mr. Jayesh Chaudhury, Director & CEO Vedic Lifesciences PVT LTD besides talking on CROs gave very useful tips on the things which should be done and learnt to shape our future prospects. These guidelines were very practical and pertinent for us.

Mr. Abhijeet Banerjee, H.R. Head, R&D Centre, Nicholas Piramal Health Sciences, explained to us the H.R. perspective and explained to us some of the concepts through vey interesting and educative video clippings .

Finally, Mr. Alok Khettry, Sr. Director, Sales and Marketing, CNS and Internal Medicne Business Unit spoke about the important factors which need to be looked into and which ultimately determine the success of a product. All the aspects of branding of a product were explained with concrete examples.

Overall 110 teams participated not only from within our university but also from areas other than Mumbai. Corporate teams like JM Financial, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bhartiya Axa HDFC, TCS, Kingfisher airlines also participated. The teams who participated in the quiz were reflection of good knowledge of various aspects of pharmaceutical industry.