SCO member countries deliberate on works undertaken in India on cost-effective Diagnostics and Therapeutics

New Delhi [India], May 3 : A virtual conference on the topic "Collaborations" was organised by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers with member states, observers and dialogue partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Wednesday, according to an official release of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
The event was conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
Awadhesh Kumar Chaudhary, Senior Economic Advisor, Department of Pharmaceuticals chaired the conference. During the conference, very detailed and enriching presentations were made by the experts.
Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Kolkata Prof V Ravichandran, and Senior Technical Advisor, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, Dr Shridhar Naryanan spoke on the topic "Improving access and enhanced manufacturing of therapeutics with reference to neglected tropical diseases & rare diseases and research on newer therapeutics for inherited rare diseases".
Dr Nivedita Gupta, Scientist-F and Head, Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases (ECD) Division, Indian Council of Medical Research delivered her views on the topic "Developing and Validating New Diagnostics for Infectious Diseases," the official release stated.
Dr Manisha Shridhar and Dr Madhur Gupta, World Health Organisation and Dr Kalaivani Ganesan, Department of Biotechnology spoke on the topic of "Development and validation of new platform technologies for the diagnostics and therapeutics."
Marta Fernandez Suarez, Chief Technology Officer, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Bhaskar Malladi, Association of Diagnostic Manufacturers of India delivered views on the topic "Development of cost-effective diagnostic panels/kits for molecular testing of diseases, including rare diseases at pre-natal and post-natal stages."
Dr YK Gupta, Principal Advisor India Strategy Development Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnerships (GARDP) and Yann Ferrise on the topic "Green technology, and process efficiency for API.'
Dr PKS Sarma, General Manager (GM) & Head - Technical, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council representative on the topic "Public-Private Partnerships for Scaling up Technologies from Lab to Market."
The presentations were greatly appreciated and a few members of the SCO gave an update on the work happening in their respective countries and the scope of collaboration with India. COVID-19 and emerging threats from health emergencies have made the countries realise the value of collaboration in various research and development activities in the field of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. India has become a strong manufacturing base in this area. India has always been at the forefront to assist various countries in times of public health emergencies and will continue to do so, according to the official release of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
The conference provided deep insights into the cutting-edge work being undertaken in various departments of the Government of India and how this can be leveraged to collaborate with the members of the SCO and other partner countries, according to the official release.