PD Vaghela, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, informed that the Centre will soon come up with an exclusive policy for R&D in the sector. Vaghela said the government is planning to set up three national Centres of Excellence (CoE) for drugs, medical devices in the country while the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here will house one CoE for drug discovery.

“We should be ready that our scientists also become millionaires. If they (scientists) can invent good products and do some research, why not? That is happening in Europe and the US. Why not in India? Even if a scientist in a government institute invents something good and it is converted into a commercial product, we should reward him,” Vaghela said. He was speaking at the 77th Foundation day of CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology through a video conference.

“We are working (on the R&D policy). Our department has taken the initiative through industry-academia interaction for framing this policy and we are likely to finalise it shortly,” the official said.

Noting that India faces three challenges in the pharma and medical devices sectors, the official said 86 per cent of the total requirement of medical devices including surgical, cardiac stents and electronic gadgets are currently being imported due to cost advantage. The other challenges are import dependence for drug intermediates and active pharma ingredients (API), R&D in healthcare and pharma sector and skilling.