‘Most of the polymers used in medical devices are made in India’

Gurugram, February 24, 2022: Speaking at the 3rd national conference on Nanomedicine and Medical Devices in Healthcare organised by the Apeejay Stya Univesity in support of Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), DST, Government of India, Professor Alok R Ray (Ex-Consultant Professor, School of International Biodesign, All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi), said: “Most of the polymers that are used in medical devices are made in India. But we do not produce the final product because people from various fields like pharmaceutical, hardware, bioelectronics, nanodevices, etc, do not work together so much. They all must work in tandem to produce medical devices.”

Besides, Prof. Ray opined: “Given the very favourable demographics, the rapidly expanding technology base, and increasing venture capital flow into India, it is anticipated that a major “medtech” industry will develop in India over the next few years if a suitable ecosystem is created. The main requirements of this ecosystem are trained manpower and new concepts in the area of medical devices and implants”. “At present, we are manufacturing most of the base material used for these devices, but we are not producing any of these medical devices. One of the major lacunas is the trained manpower in this sector,” he said. 

The conference witnessed eminent scientists and experts from the field of nanomedicine and medical devices technologies across the country, who put forward their perspectives on various aspects about the industry along with advocating the consolidation of the sector. 

Setting the tone of the conference at the beginning, Professor Raj S Dhankar, Vice Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University (ASU) highlighted the facts how India played a vital role during the last Covid waves and contributed effectively in quality medicine and vaccines to address the domestic as well as global demand. 
 
Prof Dhankar said: “Availability of medicines at affordable prices and good infrastructure including medical devices play a very important role. We all have in our lives seen and realised the importance of healthcare. We have to really ensure that there is fair play and a strong regulatory mechanism in this area.”

The conference was also a platform for many faculty members, PhD scholars including post graduate and undergraduate students to exhibit their valuable research/review through Scientific Poster Presentation on various aspects related to theme. These posters were evaluated via online and offline mode by a set of Jury Members.

Dr Vivekanandan Kalaiselvan, Senior Principal Scientific Officer, Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, Ghaziabad, spoke about “Materiovigilance Programme of India: Roles and responsibilities of Pharmacy professionals” while elaborating on the role of Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission that obtains scientific data, analyses and communicates it to the regulating authority. 

Dr Manish Diwan, Head-Strategy Partnership & Entrepreneurship, Development BIRAC, Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India spoke about the growing startup ecosystem of the country. He highlighted how his organisation is inculcating a “culture of biotech entrepreneurship” through flagship schemes and other funding provisions. 

Dr Arvind Bansal, Professor of Pharmaceutics, NIPER, Mohali, Chandigarh, spoke on nanocrystals—the approaches used for its generation and its various applications. His presentation focused on NanoCrySP, a “novel “bottom-up” spray drying based method to generate solid particles containing API nanocrystals dispersed in non-polymeric excipients.”

Dr Dhiraj Kumar Chopra, Vice President & Head Sterile R&D, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, spoke on the key factors considered in polymer selection for drug delivery system, the importance of managing the rate of polymer degradation, use of polymers for depot injections that are non-toxic, controlled erosion and biocompatible, among others. “We should not get baffled by the failures that we may face while working with complex delivery systems but should work with perseverance and passion to provide the systems worldwide,” he said while concluding his presentation.
    
 Professor Bansi D Malhotra, DST-SERB (Science & Engineering Research Board, Govt of India) Distinguished Fellow & Adjunct Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Delhi Technological University (DTU), spoke about how nanomaterials-based conducting paper can be helpful in the development of biomolecular electronic devices like biosensors for cancer detection. A biosensor is an analytical device that converts a biological response into a measurable signal via a transducer.

The conference proceedings were released in the form of a souvenir book. There were 75 abstracts received, out of that 51 were screened by scientific committee based on latest advancement in technology. 

Top three participants in the poster competition were given awards during the event.