The Department of Pharmaceuticals will prepare its annual action plan which may re-visit the current policies based on inputs received from CEOs and international agencies, including the WHO, at the 4th edition of INDIA PHARMA 2019 and INDIA MEDICAL DEVICE 2019, to be held on 18-19 February 2019, in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

This was stated here today by Mr D V Sadananda Gowda, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, while addressing the media at curtain raiser for the two-day event.

INDIA PHARMA 2019 & INDIA MEDICAL DEVICE 2019 is a flagship annual event of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). 

The event will see the participation of some of the biggest names in the Indian pharmaceutical and medical devices industry who will come together on a common B2G platform to deliberate with the Government, drug regulatory agencies, pricing regulators and WHO on key policy changes required for the growth of the pharma and medical devices Industry. 

Drug regulators from US, European Union, United Kingdom, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are expected to take part in the event. 

Mr. Gowda said that affordability of medicines and medical devices and implants has been the subject of discussions between industry and government. He assured industry that the government will work with it to ensure the accessibility of medicines to all. 

He said that the government was striving to make processes in the sector as relevant and simple as possible. He cited the example of single window clearance in the pharma sector, which he described as a huge step as "We are dealing with medicines and the nature of the sector demands several checks and scrutiny at various levels. At present, our focus is on stabilising policies in terms of pricing and enabling a conducive environment for manufacturing in India". 

Mr. Mansukh L. Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, said that event will have brainstorming sessions on various aspects of pharmaceuticals and medical device sectors and hoped that the 2019 edition would help in resolving the issues impacting the growth of the sectors.