ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) is ready to directly fund the pharmaceutical industry in collaboration with the chambers of commerce and industry all over Pakistan. The Foundation will follow the triple helix model (academia, industry and the government i.e., Pakistan Science Foundation) which will help this sector to flourish by promoting research. Currently, there is a huge gap between the academia and industry which has to be overcome, said Chairman PSF Dr. Shahid Mehmood while talking to WealthPK.
Dr Shahid said there was a great distinction between the academia and industry. To strengthen industrial output, he said, it was important to overcome this weakness. This lack of mutual understanding causes low production in the pharma sector. Being the funding agency, the PSF is interested in bridging the financial flaw between the two sectors, he added.
‘’Earlier, universities i.e., the Lahore University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences etc, were the only academic partners with the PSF to support the research-based programmes of the industrial units. However, now the PSF has changed its funding strategy. This is the first time that the Foundation has planned to fund the industrial units directly. Now the pharma industrial units can get direct funding from us by submitting their research agenda. The chambers of commerce all over Pakistan are going to play a key role in this aspect. They will act as caretaker and guarantor between the PSF and pharma units. The PSF is also ready to work on research projects based on public private partnership. Before this, they were getting research funds only by partnering with the universities. Funds distribution was also dependent on the mutual understanding of both the partners.
The PSF chairman also referenced his recent meeting with the members of pharmaceutical industry at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). It was about enhancing relations between the industry and PSF. The focal point of the meeting was to send the pharmacology research and problematic issues directly to the PSF so that it may take better steps to handle the issues with the help of universities.
Moreover, Dr. Shahid said many research-based programs like the Natural Science Linkages Program (NSLP), National Technology Innovation Fund (NTIF), Competitive Research Program (CRP) were operational under the supervision of PSF. Many joint scientific research programs are also in the process, he added.
Dr. Shahid said the PSF funding was for two types of research i.e., basic research and applied nature. Mutual scientific research programs are performed with the collaboration of universities and industries. The private sector must also invest to enhance the research circle so that this sector may be developed as a more productive economic sector, he said.
To know more about the topic, WealthPK talked to the owner and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pharmaceuticals Nasir Qureshi.
Qureshi said, “Pharmaceutical is both technical and research-based business. With changing times, innovation and updated research are the key factors running this sector, but unfortunately there is a great lack of institutional understanding in the country.’’
‘’The pharma industry is not regularly attached with any kind of compatible academic research. Academia is the ultimate beneficiary of this industry. The chain of sharing knowledge must be well attached with this sector so that the profitability ratio may increase. Along with research-based topics, regular internships are the solution to producing practice employees. Direct funding to the pharma industries concerning research always remained a question to be solved. But this matter is also close to solution with the efforts of PSF and chambers of commerce and industry,’’ Qureshi continued.
‘’I have been in this business for the last 25 years. To me, there is no lack of policy-making but the great flaw is absence only a smooth link between institutes and less research,’’ he said.
Continuing the discussion, he said the pharma industry comprised national and multinational companies. The number of industrial units has now increased from 30 to about 850. With the joint or individual efforts of all these companies, Pakistan exports a sizable quantity of pharma products, he said and added that regular updated research in the industry was necessary and the cooperation of PSF could bring encouraging results.
Qureshi also highlighted that Pakistan must get registered with the United States Food and Drug Administration so that its pharma industry exports to developed countries may also increase. In this way, handsome foreign exchange can be earned for the country”.
In a discussion with WealthPk, Usman Shaukat, CEO Bio Lab and Chairman Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) Standing Committee on pharmaceutical, said there was no collaboration between the pharma companies and PSF due to which research was not shared with the Foundation. He appreciated the PSF’s public-private partnership plan with the collaboration of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
‘’It is important to promote research projects. There is a need to enhance cooperation and strengthen academia-industry linkages. Our economy can be revived by enhancing scientific research. The pharma industry can be made more productive in this way,” he added.
