04 Aug 2014|Noida | Amity University Campus, Sector-125 Noida
Prof. Ramesh K Goyal, delivers lecture on “Passion for New Drug Discovery at Academic Institutions” at Amity University
Prof. Ramesh K. Goyal, Distinguished Professor, Institute of Life Sciences, Ahmedabad University and Ex Vice-Chancellor, The M. S. University of Baroda delivered a lecture on the topic “Passion for New Drug Discovery at Academic Institutions” at F-1 Block Seminar Hall, Amity University Campus, Sector -125 Noida.
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, Founder President – Amity Group, Prof. R.C. Deka, Advisor to Founder President and Distinguished Professor & Chair Professor for Chair on Medical Education & Research; Prof. (Dr.) R.C. Das, Chairman & HG Khorana Chair Professor - Amity Institute of Molecular Medicine & Stem Cell Research and Dr Sunil Saran – Amity Science, Technology & Innovation Foundation welcomed Prof. Ramesh K. Goyal.
Addressing the gathering, Prof. Ramesh K Goyal said that India is 3rd in drug production and Indian Pharma Industry is ranked 13th according to the value worldwide but it is very disappointing that even after 65 years, no new drug discovery has taken place in India. It is a dream for any pharmacologist to discover new drugs but many factors are hindering success in this vital area.
Prof. Goyal added that at least 10-20 years is required to develop a new drug and most of the drugs fail to hit the market. World wide there is increase in spending on research but numbers of new discovered molecules have been declined. While explaining the process of new drug discovery, Prof. Goyal said that the process begins with disease or disease process. Once a disease is identified the protein involved in the disease is isolated which take 2-5 years which is followed by finding effective drug against disease protein which again takes 2-5 years. It is further followed by pre-clinical trials which take 1-3 years followed by human clinical trials which take upto 10 years. The process completes with the FDA approval after which the drug enters market. Out of 1000 drugs discovered only 2 drugs are able to reach the stage of clinical trials.
Prof. Goyal, during the lecture, posed a question that should just focus on discovering allopathic drugs and ignore herbal drugs. In Ayurveda, every disease has a specific drug which is used to cure it. In India there is too much compartmentalization on whether it is clinical or non-clinical trials, medical or non-medical. Researchers in India should try and emulate the example of their counterparts in other countries. In such a scenario, Private universities could be a boon in Drug Discovery and Research. He opined that academic Institutions should have programmes which include Biosimilar science which means studying of similar drugs or things. There should also be degree courses in Bio-pharmaceutical Science.
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, Founder President – Amity Group said that it is a matter of great honour that a person who had devoted his entire life on drug discovery shared his experience at Amity. Dr. Chauhan said that drug discovery is an area in which researcher from any field whether Bioinformatics, Biomedical, Virology, Immunology, Nanotechnology, Physics, Chemistry can contribute. Dr. Chauhan added that Amity University has all the facilities including world class laboratories and competent faculty member along with competent Scientists and Researchers who can contribute a lot in new drug discovery.
During the occasion, Dr. Chauhan announced the launch of Amity Centre for Drug Discovery.
Senior officials, researchers and faculty members from Amity University were present during the occasion.