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Pakistan Pharma Summit beings in Karachi

Two-day Pakistan’s 1st Pharma Summit kicked off under the aegis of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufactures’ Association (PPMA) at a local hotel on Tuesday.

It titled “Reshaping Pakistan Pharma Industry: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities” aimed at pressing government to enhance the export of drugs to promote the industry.

Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Dr Farooq Sattar while addressing inaugural session assured PPMA to resolve their genuine demands by taking issues up. He also urged PPMA to stand for the promotion of industry, saying India organized its 1st Pharma Summit in 1950s, however, it was being held in 2011 in the country.

He said Pakistan is required an action with a vision for reshaping pharma industry. The industry has to be risen for enabling Pakistan to meet millennium development goals.

The federal minister also emphasized on the role of middleclass, saying the change is not possible without their due involvement to root out feudalism.
He underlined the need to promote public private partnership model in the country to improve the pharma industry as well.

He accepted the increase in health and education budget but emphasized on planning rather than just rising budget as it could not bring fruitful results unless proper planning is there.

Earlier, M. Haroon Qasim, Chairman, PPMA said one of the biggest challenges that the pharmaceutical industry is currently facing is the health ministry's proposed transfer to provinces which will also cause the devolution of the pharmaceutical industry. There is a danger in this because standards of every province will be different, he added.

Professor. Dr. Atta ur Rahman, UNESCO Science Laureate / President, Pakistan Academy of Sciences / Fellow, Royal Society – UK / Coordinator General, COMSTECH, said Science and technology may facilitate the achievement of Millennium Development Goals through sustained and enhanced economic growth; provide employment opportunities; enhance market efficiency; tackle population growth issues; climate change and environmental degradation.

Dr Atta-ur-Rahman said, “Effective science and technology policies are crucial and central to the development prospects of Pakistan in 2 distinct yet interconnected ways. First, science and technology can provide tools that help alleviate the specific problems that afflict our nation and impede their development prospects, such as disease, lack of infrastructure (energy, information, transport, etc.), and degradation of the environment. Second, science and technology are central to the dynamics of economic development itself.”

Khalid Mahmood, Managing Director, Getz Pharma (Pvt.) Limited, shared his thoughts on Pharma Vision 2020 – The Road Ahead. He said Pakistan has inadequate infrastructure, adding, there has been no price increase in any pharmaceutical providers in the country since 2001 which input costs have gone up by 40 to 60 per cent.

He said Pakistan does not have any single FDA/MHRA approval plant / product approval so far.

He urged to create a pharma policy research and advocacy council with a team of market oriented economists and technocrats to recommend to the government.

Dr. Ali Montaseri, Managing Director, Jaber-Ebne-Hayyan Company, Iran, Salman Burney, Chairman, Glaxo Smith Kline Pakistan Limited Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant, Google Inc. S. Khalid Tawab, Vice President, FPCCI, Khadeeja Balkhi, Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Consultant, Dr. Kaiser Waheed, Managing Director, Medisure Pharma and Nadeem Naqvi Managing Director, Karachi Stock Exchange were speakers at the summit.

Asif Misbah, Managing Director, Macter International, Kashif Sheikh, Managing Director, CCL (Pvt.) Limited, Mian Asif Shuja, Managing Director, Schazoo Laboratories (Pvt.) Limited, Muzaffar Jafri, Director Commercial, Hilton Pharma (Pvt.) Limited, Dr. Sarmad Maqbool, Director Marketing, Abbott Laboratories, Syed Jamshed Ahmed, Director Marketing & Sales, PharmEvo (Pvt.) Ltd, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Director Marketing, Macter International and Asif Sattar, Deputy Managing Director, Atco Laboratories participated in a panel discussion.
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