Minister for IT KT Rama Rao is very busy in USA in meeting the head honchos of various Industries. On the second day of his business visit to the United States of America, Minister KT Rama Rao met leadership from top Global Pharma companies. In the luncheon meeting, Rama Rao met top executives of Pharma, Life Sciences and Healthcare multinational company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) – Mr Paul Stoffel, Chief Scientific Officer and Chairman of Pharmaceuticals Division, Ms Melinda Richter, Head of JLabs and Mr Jonathan Collard, VP, Government Affairs and Policy, Asia Pacific.
Mr Paul was very enthusiastic about Hyderabad Pharma City and will be visiting India and Hyderabad in 2017. Melinda has assured the Telangana delegation that they would explore the possibility of setting up of JLabs unit in Hyderabad. Telangana Government has entered into an MOU with J&J towards making the State TB-free. The New Jersey based Johnson & Johnson will play an active role in the project by assisting the State government in achieving the goal.
Later in the afternoon, Minister met Mr Dr. Sanat Chattopadhyay, Executive VP and President, Merck Manufacturing Division in Kenilworth office. In a wide ranging discussion, Mr Sanat mentioned Merck’s intent for a social partnership with Telangana Government on arresting infant diarrhoea.
Minister invited Mr Sanat to visit Hyderabad and he has agreed to come next month. Merck has also expressed interest in setting up manufacturing base in Telangana in collaboration with local partners. Merck has also expressed interest in setting up “vaccine centre of excellence” in Telangana capital which will also be used for imparting skills, providing training based on the specific requirement of the companies.
Ms Nanette Cocero, President for Emerging Markets for Innovative Health business, Pfizer and Mr Jeffery T. Hamilton, Senior Director, Pfizer, during their discussions with Minister explained about Pfizer’s ECHO project in the area of breast cancer screening. Minister elaborated on the steps Telangana Government initiated to boost the Pharma sector in Hyderabad and invited Pfizer to associate with Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH).
Minister’s hectic day began at 7 am with the signing of MoU with IV2 Alliance, a non-profit corporation and one that works in tandem with US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to promote collaboration within the scientific, research and provider communities to achieve advances in the field of healthcare and wellness. USFDA in a written communication stated that Pharma City near Hyderabad can be the first of the international clusters it seeks to bring together to link scientific and medical advances from across the globe for better health care.
