History of pharmaceutical
institution and pharmaceutical industry started almost similar time. The first
pharmaceutical industry from private sector was to be built in the name of
Nepal Pharmaceutical Works at Godavari in 1969 but it could not run due to site
problem. Before that a separate production unit was established in the Royal
Drugs Research Laboratory which was converted into Royal Drugs Laboratory (RDL)
in 1972. Chemidrug Industries Pvt. Ltd. is the first pharmaceutical industry
which started production. Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University started
Intermediate Pharmacy (I Pharm) for the first time in Nepal in 1972 which is
running at present as well. There is significant increment of number of
pharmaceutical industries without a huge gap in increment but pharmacy academic
growth could not happen as it had to be for a long time. After 22 years of a
gap, Kathmandu University started Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) of four year
for the first time in Nepal. At present, Pokhara University has BPharm and MPharm
program. Tribhuvan University and Asian College of Advanced studies has BPharm
program of Purbanchal University. Purbanchal University has given affiliation
to other seven private colleges to run BPharm program this year. Out of
seven, six are with in Kathmandu valley and one is located in Chitwan.
Moreover, there are 21 colleges which are running Diploma in Pharmacy (DPharma)
colleges under council of Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT),
Sanothimi, Bhaktapur. There are 37 pharmaceutical industries in Nepal which has been
awarded World Health Organization Good Manufacturing Practices (WHO GMP).
There and more than 30000 pharmacy shops registered under DDA.
There and more than 30000 pharmacy shops registered under DDA.
It is tried to focus on few
points on which pharmaceutical industries and academic institutions should pay
role together and they are discussed on the successive paragraphs.
Revised syllabus, practical
exercise and access to research journals and internet
There is no doubt that industry
needs professional, having good attitude and aptitude and competent pharmacist.
Academic institution plays a major role to shape a future pharmacist. For this
academic institution revises syllabus continuously and cater theoretical and
practical knowledge to students based on that syllabus. During revision of the
course, institution always thinks of industrial needs. Academic institution
should be a store of knowledge resources for which it should have books of
latest edition and research journals in a well established library. As most of
journals are online these days, internet services round a clock should be
provided with access to the journals.
Exposures with nation and out of
nation like student exchange and industrial visit
Practical and problem based
teaching are applied these days in universities because of its effectiveness.
Therefore more practical exercises are kept in the syllabus. Besides that
students should get exposure of industrial scale instrument, processes and
utilities and documentation system before they enter into industry as a
pharmacist. In order to provide this exposure to them, industries visit and
internship are kept as a part of syllabus. Pharmaceutical industries have a
great role to provide to them on which future of pharmacy profession and
pharmaceutical industries relies on. Industries should provide consent to
students for visit and internship as per their capacity no matters where they
will go because this is a social responsibility of industries. Till the date
most of the Nepalese pharmaceutical industries have a wide prospect on this and
accept students each year.
Student exchange program of
International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) has been started in
2006 in Nepal accepting a pharmacy student from Serbia but it is becoming one
way (not exchange) due to financial problem of students though host University
is providing accommodation to them. In the exchange program, students will be
benefited from exposure in industries, hospitals and academic institution of
particular nation. This program is viable in other countries due to support
provided by parents, institution and pharmaceutical industries but it is not
becoming successful here due to lack of industrial interests and parents’
financial burden even though students want to involve in exchange.
Academia- industry linkage
Academia - industry linkage of
defined as “the process in which the actors in the industrial and academic
domains cooperate with each other so as to uplift the performance potential of
both domains.” It is exactly due to the uplifting potential of human resources,
innovation capability and induced economic efficiency that the promotion of
industry-university partnership is expected as one important means to
facilitate nation’s economy. According to the definition, there are two
distinctive domains, the industrial one, the aim of which to product
development leading to production, and the academic counterpart, the major
purpose of which is knowledge creation and realization through education under
the environment of mutual feeding-back between basic and applied researches. In
the complementary interaction between two different domains, researchers and
ideas would flow and position themselves among fitting research sectors,
resulting in such returns as process innovations, product innovation, efficient
resource allocation and social evaluation for those able institutions and
industries. This has been successful in Japan and this collaboration has been
extended to graduates employment, collaborative or outsourced research,
scholarship or donations and services for industrial patenting. The following
can be listed out as benefits to industries academic institutions which are
having linkage to each other:
Benefits for academia
• Tune-up
their syllabi and academic practices as per the requirement of the industry.
• Satisfaction
for their knowledge & expertise being used for society.
• Earning
of additional resources for research and development (R&D).
• Securing
of training & final placements for students.
• Respect
from society and industry.
• Students
are able to work on industrial project.
Benefits for industry
• Reduction
in industrial cost, improvement in quality & competitive dimensions in
product.
• Imported
formulae and process can help in making copies but not the original for global
competition.
• Reduction
of dependence on foreign know-how.
• Getting
of high caliber professional graduates to industry.
Thus, academia-Industry
partnership plays pivotal role in knowledge-based economies. Nepal
Pharmaceutical Lab Pvt. Ltd. has started this trend by establishing
Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Lab in Department of Pharmacy, Kathmandu
University where study on ofloxacin is going on.
Research and Development (R &
D) Projects:
Institutes keep on starving for
the funds until the research done in academic institution in not translated in
industrial realities. In other hand, industries can copy but can’t innovate
product or process more efficiently until and unless they tie up with academic
institution. Thus, it is important to get research projects by academic
institutions from industries and industries should also give projects for new products
to the market.
Development awards
Competent faculty of
department/institution can apply for developmental grant to build
infrastructure for research there at national and international level which
will help for outsourcing research and development or to provide consultancy
during which students will get benefit as they will be involved in these
projects and the lab will be also sustained economically. There are numerous
non-government and government organizations which are providing fund for this
purpose within nation and abroad. Prof. Panna Thapa, Department of Pharmacy,
Kathmandu University got a grant from Wellcome Trust, UK to establish
Formulation and Drug Delivery Research Lab in the department.
Workshops/Trainings/symposium/conference
Workshops and trainings update
pharmacist in recent techniques and equipment. These also upgrade knowledge and
time management. Thus, these sorts of activities are important for skill and
time management for increment of output. These activities should be organized
in academic institutions from time to time taking participants from industries
and other institutions. This sort of environment has been started in our
country by establishing “Shimadzu-Kathmandu University Education Center for
Pharma Professionals” at Department of Pharmacy, Kathmandu University,
Dhulikhel which will conduct workshops and training program in the near future.
There should be a place to know
what is going on in the nation and abroad in the particular field. For this
purpose, national and international symposiums and conferences should be
organized regularly. This will not only help to make network among people of
similar interest but also be a meeting place between academicians and
industrialists for their mutual benefits.
It can be concluded that
knowledge based economic growth is always sustainable and has been proved in
developed nations. Interestingly, this is the reason why they become developed
countries. It has also been proved that knowledge based economy growth is
possible only by linking academic and industries. This should be focused in
pharmaceutical sector as well for overall economic growth. Moreover, young
pharmacists should be encouraged to work here providing exposure and motivation
through pay scale, knowledge updates through trainings, higher education, workshops,
conferences, symposiums etc. with the cooperative between academic institutions
and industries.
Tags:
Industry