Honouring pharma pioneers

The highlight of this issue is the Go Gujarat! feature. Gujarat's tryst with pharmaceuticals started out with pioneers like Alembic (set up in 1907) and Sarabhai Chemicals and today has star players like Zydus Cadila, Sun Pharma, Claris Lifesciences, Torrent Pharma, Intas Biopharmaceuticals and Dishman Pharmaceuticals, amongst others.

A defining feature of the Gujarat pharma industry is that most of the companies are promoter driven. Some companies have the second generation at the helm. For example, Torrent Pharma's founder U N Mehta has able successors in his two sons, Sudhir and Samir Mehta. The same goes for Dr Umrish Chudgar, of Intas Biopharmaceuticals, who took off from his father Hasmukh Chudgar's Intas Pharma and has steered the company along the biotech pathway. Some companies have seen a split (Zydus Cadila—Cadila Healthcare) while still others have been re-born after tough times (Core Healthcare is now Claris Lifesciences). The supplement is a tribute to the grit and entrepreneurship of these stalwarts.

As important as these players is Gujarat's thriving pharma machinery industry. Sector observers point out that probably no other state in India enjoys the benefit of having strong ancillary support literally at their doorstep. Constantly evolving, never staying still, Gujarat pharma's future will be scripted by a new breed of players like Contract Research Organisations (CROs) and biotech. More of those moves in our coming issues.

Elsewhere in this issue, we look at the contentious issue of clinical trial registration. While still voluntary, there is a growing consensus that it should be made mandatory to bring more transparency to clinical trials. As India aims to be a global hub of clinical research, more transparency will only protect Indian subjects signing up for trials.

Viveka Roychowdhury
viveka.r@expressindia.com