Hybrid Seminar - COVID-19 Pandemic
Hybrid Seminar: COVID-19 Pandemic
Saturday 19 March 2022
CET 13.15 hrs - 16.00 hrs (IST 17.45 hrs - 20.30 hrs)
Physical venue: Van der Valk A4, 2132 MA Hoofddorp.
Free registration via: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/273835097147
Digital streaming: https://www.facebook.com/fccinl
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to the COVID-19 pandemic causing suffering and death, the like of which one has not seen for over a century. The health, economic and social impact on humanity is already enormous and rising. But, there is now certainly light at the end of the tunnel. In this hybrid Seminar, we will discuss crucial experiments that led to synthetic mRNAs, which defy body's defences and yet direct cells to produce a desired protein. This enabled pharmaceutical companies to design and manufacture safe and effective novel vaccines against the corona virus in a short time-frame. The vaccine powerhouse India provided more than a million doses to 95 countries under ''Vaccine Maitri' program. However, a vast misery of pandemic tragically unfolded in India in April-June 2021. Since then, India has manufactured more (doses of) effective vaccines, some of which are to be administered by nasal or intradermal route without injection. Also, there is progress in COVID-19 treatment; emergency use authorization has been granted to synthetic drugs as well as antibodies neutralising SARS-CoV-2 virus. We shall detail India's fight against this pandemic. Finally, from epidemiology viewpoint the seminar will discuss if we have arrived from pandemic to endemic stage. In any case, one should know that other far worse and deadly pandemics (e.g. plague and small pox) were successfully eliminated. This COVID-19 pandemic will be defeated too.
Programme, speakers and Moderators:
13:15-14:05 Meet & Greet
14:00-14:05 Welcome: Dr. Pramod Agrawal, Vice-President Program, FCCI
14:05-14:20 Quick advent of mRNA vaccines: Prof. Pramod Saxena, Founding Trustee and Past-President, FCCI and Retired Professor & Head of Pharmacology, ErasmusMC, Rotterdam
14:20-14:45 Emergency use Authorization of COVID-19 vaccines and drugs: Dr. Venugopal Somani, Drugs Controller General of India, New Del
14:45-15:10 India’s fight against COVID-19: Prof. Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
15:10-15:25 From pandemic to endemic - past, present, and future epidemiology of COVID-19: Dr. Eveline van Dorp, Anaesthesiologist and epidemiologist, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden
15:25-15:55 General discussion
15:55-16:00 Thanks: Mr. Jasbir Singh, President, FCCI
Moderators: Dr. Vimal Chopra, Director of trusteeship, FCCI and Dr. Sachin Soni, Trustee, FCCI
Speakers CV
Balram Bhargava is Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi and Secretary, Department of Health Research, a division under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. He graduated in medicine (MBBS), followed by MD and DM with specialization in Cardiology from King George's Medical College, Lucknow. Prior to his appointment at the ICMR, he was a Professor of cardiology at the All India Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Fellow of the American Heart Association, Fellow of Indian Academy of Medical Sciences and Fellow of American College of Cardiology. Prof. Bhargava received the Gujar Mal Science Award (2018), S.N. Bose Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress, Platinum Jubilee Award of the National Academy of Sciences, Tata Innovation Fellowship for facilitating Biodesign Innovation and UNESCO - Equatorial Guinea International prize. In 2014, the Government of India honoured him in with Padma Shri for his contributions in the field Cardiology. His latest book “Going Viral - Making of Covaxin: The Inside Story” published in November 2021 is very well recognised.
Eveline L.A. van Dorp has worked as a Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the Leiden University Medical Center for the past 8 years, after completing her anaesthesia training there. She obtained her PhD in 2009 on the pharmacological effects of opioid analgesics. She also trained as an Epidemiologist at the Rotterdam NIHES institute and graduated there in 2014. She has collaborated on several large epidemiological studies with the department of Clinical Epidemiology of the Leiden University Medical Center. Her main focus of research is pharmaco-epidemiology, and most specifically the epidemiology of opioid use. She is a member of the board of the research consortium TAPTOE (tackling and preventing the opioid epidemic), which is funded by a grant from the NWO Nationale Wetenschapsagenda.
Pramod Saxena studied medicine (MBBS, 1962) and obtained doctorate under Late Prof. K.P. Bhargava in Pharmacology (MD, 1965 cum laude) from King George's Medical College, Lucknow, India. He became a Pharmacology Lecturer (1965-66) and also worked as a General Practitioner (1962-1966) before joining Organon, Oss. At Organon, he contributed to the development of the muscle relaxant Pavulon® and the antidepressant Tovlon®). Pramod Saxena returned to academia in 1970 joining the then newly established Medical Faculty Rotterdam (now ErasmusMC), where he was professor and Head (1990-2004) of the Department of Pharmacology and vice-dean (1988-1991). He continued his research in serotonin and migraine and contributed to the development of triptans. Prof. Saxena headed the Dutch Pharmacology Society (Chairman), the European Headache Federation (President) and the International Society for Serotonin Research (President). He is widely recognized: Harold G. Wolff Prize (1973) and John Graham Senior Clinician Award (1996) by American Headache Association, Honorary Life Memberships by the Dutch (2004) and International Headache (2021) Societies and Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India. Upon retirement, the Dutch Headache Association instituted a “Prof. dr. PR Saxena Prize” that is awarded annually to author of best scientific paper in the headache field.
Dr. Venugopal G. Somani is the Drugs Controller General of India Drugs Controller General of India at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. He did his MPharm and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Nagpur University. Earlier he worked as a Joint Drugs Controller in CDSCO, heading the Divisions of Regulation of Medical Devices and in vitro Diagnostics, Stem cells & Blood Products, New Drugs. Dr. Somani has also worked as Joint Drugs Controller heading the divisions of Biologicals, Clinical Trial, New Drugs and Cosmetics for several years. He was primarily involved in dossier assessment, monitoring, and framing of proposals for amendments in Rules, policies, and guidelines. Dr. Somani officiated as Drugs Controller General (India) Nov 2011 to Feb 2012 and also worked as 'Deputy Drugs Controller (I), Assistant Drugs Controller (I) and Drugs Inspector at CDSCO in various zonal offices like West Zone Mumbai, Ahmadabad, East Zone Kolkata, HQ New Delhi while conducting and monitoring GMP, GCP, and GLP inspection. Dr. Somani has been actively involved in the National and International forum for policy making, training, selections, providing expert opinion for better regulatory processes.
