Covid 19 – Impact & New Normal for Pharma Industry 

The Pharmaceutical Industry is working tirelessly for Humanity safety. Hence our  Pharmaceutical Industry is moving ahead with great confidence, as usual, to  manufacture various Pharmaceutical products as well as Research & Development  activities to develop the Vaccines & other products to combat the Covid 19 crisis. 

NEW NORMAL at work place “RISK BASED ASSESSMENTS” for Personnel  Protection: 

Since we are leaning more & more about new Corona 19 Virus every day, the  information shared here may get updated based on experience & Global Experts  advice. E.g. CDC USA & WHO has slightly different recommendations to use the  masks or face shields as well as social distancing norms too. 

Flexible & Remote working: 

• The organisations will:

 — prefer scattered work hours 

 — offer flexibility of working 

 — push for working from home and other remote locations  

• Employees will be expected to learn new tools and acquire new skills through digital learning platforms.  

As such The Pharmaceutical Industry does take very good care to avoid cross  contaminations as part of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). But now keeping in  mind seriousness of virus spread, the Pharmaceutical Industry has to take  precautions to avoid transmission & spread during travel in buses, entry & exit  procedures, change rooms, avoid hand touch to doors, handles etc. throughout the  manufacturing operations at site. 

Various operations like below have to be kept in mind: 

■ Supply chain of all input materials & finished products. 

■ Cleaning & sanitising of Input Materials containers.

■ Precautions during storage in warehouse. 

■ Precautions during sampling & testing. 

■ Necessary care during issue of Input Materials. 

■ Precautions while handling input materials during manufacturing operations ■ Sanitisation of all the areas. 

■ Social Distancing right from travel in Co. buses , entry & exit procedures,  during Mfg., / Packaging / Testing operations etc. in the plant. 

As per WHO, common major steps to protect against the infection are: 

■ Social distancing 

■ Use of Masks / Face- Shields 

■ Use of Gloves  

■ Frequent Washing of Hands & or Sanitisation with proper sanitisers  containing min. 70% to 75% Iso – Propyl Alcohol or Ethyl Alcohol ■ Segregation of staff in essential & non-essential at manufacturing site. ■ Non-essential staff to work from home. 

■ Essential staff are the ones who are required to work in person at  manufacturing site. 

Important is SOP generations & trainings for all above activities to take all necessary  steps / precautions during manufacturing & testing of products to avoid  contaminations, virus spread & no one enters the plant with the Covid 19 infection.  

Impact of Covid-19 on larger Indian as well as Multinational players to be relatively  limited. API supplies from China for Indian customers have gradually resumed with  the Drug Controller General of India reaching out to companies to extend logistics  support to airlift critical APIs from China. Manufacturing facilities continue to operate  with lower workforce and at lower utilization, companies have faced disruptions in  outbound logistics and in the movement of raw materials and shipments within the  country.  

The Pharmaceutical Industry is continuing to manufacture medicines for well-being  of humanity. The Pharmaceutical Industry is in operation to save human lives.  Therefore it is essential to take all necessary precautions to take care of themselves  as well as others surrounding. Great opportunities to Innovate, Technology based  systems to speed up activities in R & D of new product development. 

Our Prime Minister Respected Shri Narendra Modi had mentioned “India is Pharmacy of  the World”. The Indian Pharma Industry has lived up to Prime Minister’s expectations &  making every effort possible to supply the Quality products to The World. Government of  India has supported The Indian Pharma Industry in Covid 19 crisis, by way of “Promotion  of Bulk drugs Parks” with financial support of 3000 Crore Rupees in next 5 years. Indian  Government has also initiated “Production linked scheme to promote domestic  manufacturing of Bulk drugs & Intermediates” based on “Atmanirbhar Bharat” call by our  Prime Minister Respected Shri Narendra Modi.