Affordable medicine for all is the need of the hour, according to K Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.

He was addressing the seventh convocation of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad, on Wednesday.

Recounting the growth of pharmaceutical industry in India since the 1970s, he said affordable medicine was relevant in the beginning of the industry’s growth in the 1970s and it continues to be relevant now.

Asking graduating students to focus on research, Reddy said it was necessary to acquire new, complex capabilities in drug discovery. “I will be happy to see some of you taking up deep science route and carrying out research,” he said.

ESL Narasimhan, Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, said pharma research facilities should be made easily accessible and researchers should be mentored properly. Modalities should be worked out to substitute branded medicines with generics to bring down the cost of healthcare, he added.

In her report, Shashi Bala Singh, Director, NIPER, said the institute was ranked sixth among the pharmacy institutes in the country and had become a centre of excellence. A national research centre for bulk drugs is also being set up in the institute.

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