“Common Guidelines on Pharmaceutical Innovation and Entrepreneurship” for Academic Institutions Released

The Vision of the Department of Pharmaceuticals is to promote Indian pharma sector as the global leader for quality medicines and to ensure availability, accessibility and affordability of drugs and medical devices in the country. One of the measures to achieve the vision is to concentrate on Research & Development and innovation. In order to achieve the same, the Department, amongst various other measures, has set up seven National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs) as institutes of national importance all across the country for imparting quality education and conducting high-end research.

NIPERs have recently launched a common Research portal for industry and researchers and have also prepared a Common Research Programme based on the national needs and their own expertise and facilities. The department is also soon coming up with a ‘Policy to catalyze Research & Development and Innovation in the Pharma- MedTech Sector in India’.

In order to encourage innovation and research and to facilitate the entrepreneurship in NIPERs, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, after considering the National Innovation &Startup Policy 2019, National IPR Policy 2016 and similar policies of other institutes/ departments has prepared ‘Common Guidelines on Pharmaceutical Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ for academic institutions under its control. The policy aims to transform the academic research into innovative and commercially applicable technologies/products; build strong ecosystem for nurturing creativity and entrepreneurial activities and contribute to self-reliant India mission (Atmanirbhar Bharat).

The Policy Guidelines aims to:

· Encourages the faculty/staff members and students to pursue entrepreneurship;

· Formulate policies & foster an ecosystem to generate ideas across disciplines that can be transformed into successful technologies, products, and services;

· Establish a mechanism for technology development and technology transfer;

· Create institutional framework for effective implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the policy; and

· Promote pharmaceutical innovation and entrepreneurship to foster the unmet therapeutic, socially impactful technologies delivering benefits to mankind

These Policy Guidelines, finalized with approval of the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers have been forwarded to all NIPERs for taking up further steps for their speedy and effective implementation.