EICC is pleased to announce that the High Level Roundtable on Pharmaceutical Industry was held in Brussels on 22 September 2008. The Roundtable being organized in association with the Embassy of India was held in the European Parliament. This Roundtable was the first of its kind being organized by any Chamber and brought together leading drug manufacturers from India and Europe, representatives of the European Commission and representatives of the Drug manufacturers associations in Europe and India. The Roundtable, in addition to exploring cooperation in research and development, addressed specific issues and factors that hinder market access opportunities of the pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical related products of Indian drug manufactures into Europe and vice-versa. The Roundtable provided the Drug manufacturers an opportunity to discuss implementation strategies on a range of compliance issues which still afflict the industry.

Given the attention focused on rising potential for Pharmaceutical sector investment in India, the Roundtable provided pharma players in Europe and India, an opportunity to break the “invisible wall” that divides them from making aggressive business cooperation. This Roundtable assumed importance in the wake of the worldwide M&A activity in this sector including unprecedented overseas acquisitions by Indian Pharmaceutical companies particularly in Europe. The proposed event presented an excellent opportunity for Indian and European Drug manufacturers to establish one to one contact and discuss issues of their mutual interest. The Roundtable offered participants opportunities to raise pharma related trade issues that they considered important, and which in their view are barriers to closer cooperation between India and Europe in this sector. By participating in the Roundtable, For more details please contact EICC on info@eicc.be or sunil.prasad@coditel.net