Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development
The Context
Considering its academic and research excellence in pharmaceutical field, L. M. College of Pharmacy has been selected to establish the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP) center by Government of Gujarat and Atal Incubation Center (AIC) named AIC-LMCP foundation by Atal Innovation Mission, NitiAyog, Government of India.
Objectives of the Practice:
The objective of SSIP and AIC-LMCP are to develop student centric innovation and pre-incubation ecosystem for the students, build internal capacity of the institution, creating pathway for mind to market project/research/innovation/ideas of students, create facilities for supporting innovation and interface with public system initiatives at state and central level. It also aims for creating innovative and sustainable startup companies, support their growth and development, Encouraging and supporting women entrepreneurs, bringing innovations in existing MSMEs as well as Providing specialized business services to existing MSMEs and start-ups.
The Practice
Under the SSIP Scheme L. M. College of Pharmacy facilitates and pre-incubates innovative ideas to go through a stage of proof of concept, prototype, product development, and patenting of successful projects. Various outreach programs on Student Start-up Innovation Policy (SSIP) are conducted throughout the year. During all outreach programs, the aim of SSIP is to inspire, train and support the students in the field of innovation. Various competitions and mentoring sessions by experts from the industry are carried out for the students. LMCP has created strong local, pan India and global network of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare entrepreneurs, Mentoring and facilitation for funds, Collaboration with Research institutes and Industry as well as Legal, intellectual property (Patents), business strategy, marketing, regulatory, procurement and supply chain.
Evidence of Success
More than 80 student projects were/are supported by SSIP and 23 of it has reached the patent stage. One proud we cherish is selection of one of our teams (named CYTOKINE) represented by Ms. Vandana Thakur, Dr. Anita Mehta and Dr. Praful Bharadia in top five best PoC awardees at MHRD Innovation Cell (MIC), AICTE New Delhi. The innovation involves development of a topical herbal formulation (AnV-Stat medicated guaze) to arrest bleeding after injury, which is a very cost-effective solution.
AIC-LMCP facilitated 17 startups, 22 Mentors, 15 Collaborations (Academic and Corporate), 3 provisional Patents, 3 awards to startups, Support to MSME through testing services, 60+ Events and trainings and continuing to build startup ecosystem in pharmaceutical and healthcare sector till date. Ms. Divya Teli, faculty member of L. M. College of Pharmacy is a co-founder of start-up named ‘Inspirochem LLP’ under the AIC-LMCP foundation since 2020.
Website: AIC-LMCP: http://aiclmcp.org/
SSIP-LMCP: http://lmcp.ac.in
Contribution of Alumni in the growth of the institute
Objectives of the Practice:
LMCP is proud of the achievements of more than 15000 alumni who have spread their wings in almost every corner of the world. They not only played a big role in making India and more specifically Gujarat as the hub of Pharmaceuticals but also made their presence felt in academics and cutting-edge research. These alumni have always showed their willingness to support their alma mater in every possible way. To felicitate their support and feelings, LMCP organizes Alumni Meet under the banner of ‘LMCP Alumni Association and Research Society”. With the increased linkage with the alumni, the students’ interaction with the alumni has increased many fold. The alumni now are frequently coming forward to share their knowledge and experience to the students and faculty of the institute. They are also becoming eager to extend their support in infrastructural development of the institute.
The Practice
The L. M. College of Pharmacy organizes Alumni Meet under the banner of ‘LMCP Alumni Association and Research Society’ in which various eminent personalities were invited as chief guest such as Mr.Habil Khorakiwala, the chairman of Wockhardt Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Dr. C. J. Shishoo (Ex-principal, LMCP), Mr. A. V. Patel (Founder, Centurian Laboratories), Dr. N. R. Sheth (Vice Chnacellor, GTU), Dr.Hemant Koshia (Commissioner, FDCA, Gujarat), Mr.Kanubhai Patel (CMD, Amneal Pharmaceuticals), Mr.Himanshu Shah (Co-Founder, Eris Life sciences) and Shri Jitendra Patel (Director, Daffodil Pharmaceuticals).and Dr. Ketan Patel (CMD, Troikaa Pharma. Ltd.)
The various guest lectures were also organized such as LMCP Alumni Association and Research Society under Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP) sponsored lectures on theme “Recent Advances in Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Pharmaceutical Sciences”. Dr Ferzaan Engineer (Co-founder & Chairman, Cytecare Hospitals, Bengaluru) delivered a lecture on “Creating Model Cancer Hospitals in India.” Shri Kaushik Shah (Joint Managing Director, Sushen Medicamentos, Ahmedabad) delivered a lecture on “Entrepreneurship in the Pharmaceutical Industry.”Shri Jatin Gajjar (Executive Vice President and Head, R&D, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad) delivered a lecture on “Innovation in Pharmaceuticals: Solid Oral Dosage.”Shri Padmin Buch (Senior Project & Management Advisor National level IPR Domain Expert. Senior Visiting Faculty, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India) delivered a lecture on “Entrepreneurship Opportunities & Avenues in the Pharmacy & Allied fields.”
Mr.Sudhan Marathe, the Senior Director of Pfizer Global supply and new product lead on oncology, inflammation and immunology at USA and Alumni of LMCP exhorted the under-graduate and post- graduate students of all branches with a discussion on scale up, tech transfer and commercial manufacturing. The lectures on theme “Pharmaceutical and Healthcare: Current Perspectives” were also organized by alumni for the benefit of the present students, sponsored by LMCP Alumni Association and Research Society under Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP) and AIC-LMCP Foundation.
Dr.Amirali Popat (Group Leader – NHMRC, senior research Fellow, School of Pharmacy, Uni. of Queensland, Australia) delivered a lecture on “Recent Advances in Stimuli Responsive Nano materials for Biomedical Applications”. Dr.Shivprakash Rathnam (CEO, Synchron Research Services Pvt Ltd.) delivered a lecture on “Innovation Ecosystem and New Enterprise based and Evolving Science”. As a part of Entrepreneurship Session, a panel discussion was organised for the students on the theme of Startup and Investment Opportunities in Pharma and Healthcare. Dr.Ketan Patel (CMD, Troikaa Pharma. Ltd.), Mr. Himanshu Shah (Co-Founder, Eris Life sciences), Mr. Bhadresh Khamar (CEO, Kegan Advisory), Mr. Bhavin Bhagat (Co-Founder at IndiaBizForSale.com), Dr. Milan Satia (CEO, Ethicare Clinical Trial Services), Dr.Hetal Shah (Founder and Principal Consultant, MeWriT) were the distinguished panelists for the same.
On 4th February, 2019, a guest lecture was delivered by an Alumni of LMCP, Dr Jitendra Patel (B.Pharm, M.S.(pharmacol) Ph.D (pharmacology) who has done his M.S. from University of Kansas (USA) and Ph.D (St. Johns University New York, USA) and has also worked as Principal Scientist and Associate Director Clinical Science. He has a work experience at three Pharma companies. (Schering Plough, AstraZeneca, Merck, USA).He talked about post graduate options in the pharma industry, health maintenance organizations (HMO) and Govt (FDA, NIH) in USA which was very informative and useful for students for decision making regarding post-graduation study in USA.
A conversation was organized with Mr.Hasmukh Chudgar graduated from L. M. College of Pharmacy in the batch of 1954 who laid the foundation of Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. He discussed about the difficulties and market trend of healthcare sector of older times as compared to today. He also emphasized on quality of the manufactured drugs and suggested that it should not be compromised at any cost.
A conversation was organized with Dr.Ferzaan and Mr. Kaushik, the Alumni of LMCP and entrepreneurs in which after answering many questions and guiding them, they conveyed message to students that, ‘Learn from past, live in present with the eye in future. Keep that attitude in life!’Ms.Khevna Maniar, Alumni of LMCP, student of forensic science course, conveyed her message to current student that ‘Don’t be the sheep in the herd. Make your own life.’
The felicitation of our alumni members was done during Alumni meet 2020 who have been constantly supporting the Alma-Mater. The alumni who were felicitated were Mr.Mehul Shah (Manager, Jaywin Remedies), Dr. Milan Satia (CEO ,Ethicare Clinical Research , Ltd), Mr. Deepak Padiya (MD , Shelter Pharmaceutical), Mr. Manish Sariaya (CMD , Ahmedabad agency), Dr.ShivprakashRathnam (CEO , Synchron Research Ltd) and Mr. Yusuf Sabugar (MD , Shelter Pharmaceutical).
Evidence of Success
Mr. Pankaj Patel [CMD, ZydusCadila and Chairmen, Advisory Committee of L.M.C.P.] was awarded Gujarat Ratna Award by Gujarat Innovation Society powered by Gujarat State Co-operative Bank Ltd. He is also selected as President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and Chairmen, BoG, IIM Udaipur.
Dr.NavinSheth [Member, GPSC] has become the Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Technological University (GTU).
Dr. Ketan Patel [Chairmen & Managing Director, Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Ltd.] has created a huge impact in the pharma world through imagination and innovation. The Government of India under the head of Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology has published a book titled “THE INNOVATORS – Stories of Hi-Tech Entrepreneurs”. Dr. Ketan Patel’s journey as a successful entrepreneur is published in this book as a first story.
Ms. Norina Sookmoulla [Managing Director, Noripharm&Noorpharma Pharmacies, Lallmatie, Mauritius] was honored as Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government – Regional Winner, Country Winner and Continental Winner; CEO Global as well as her name was listed amongst 50 Outstanding Women in Healthcare by World Health & Wellness Congress & Awards. Recently she has also won Golden Glob Tigers Award.
Dr.Vipulkumar Patel has won Trend Setter Award by Gujarat Innovation Society for his Innovation entitled “Hydrogen based product to Reduce Water and Fertilizer Requirement”.
Many students of LMCP have been qualified in the national level entrance examination ‘GATE/GPAT’. Ms. Ankita Yawalkar scored 1st All India Rank in GPAT 2019.
- Contribution of Alumni in Infrastructure of the institute
- MoUs of Alumni companies with the institute
- Placement of Alumni in various fields (Annexure III)
| Sr. No. | Academic Year | No. of students placed through campus placement |
| 1 | 2019-20 | 17 |
| 2 | 2018-19 | 38 |
| 3 | 2017-18 | 43 |
| 4 | 2016-17 | 32 |
| 5 | 2015-16 | 38 |
Training of students for competitive examinations
Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) is a national level entrance examination for entry into M.Pharm programmes. Till 2018, it was conducted by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) every year as per the directions of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. The Test will now be conducted by the NTA.The objective of this practice is to provide an opportunity to the students with Pre-GPAT examinations and thereby preparing them for national level GPAT examination. An institutional committee has been framed which conduct Pre-GPAT examination.The said committee looks after the conduction of pre-GPAT examination round the academic year.
No. of students appeared and qualified in GPAT Examination:
| Sr. No. | Year | No. of students appeared | No. of students qualified | Significant achievement of students |
| 1 | 2016 | __ | 15 | JayantIyer: (All India Rank : 7th)
RajatGoel: (All India Rank : 64th) |
| 2 | 2017 | __ | 14 | __ |
| 3 | 2018 | 42 | 23 | __ |
| 4 | 2019 | 39 | 25 | Ms.AnkitaYawalkar (All India Rank : First) |
| 5 | 2020 | 34 | 25 | __ |
| 6 | 2021 | 72 | 34 | __ |
All India Rank in NIPER-JEE:
| Sr. No. | Name of Student | Score/Rank |
| 1 | JayantIyer | 1st |
| 2 | RajatGoel | 16th |
Academic and Research Excellence
In last 5 years (2015-2020), various research projects have been sanctioned with the financial support of more than 1.7 crore rupees from government, industries and nongovernment agencies. These research projects include advancements in cardiovascular and diabetic research, investigation of antiasthmatic activity of drugs, development of novel formulation for psoriasis, development of novel inhaler formulation for treatment of asthma, isolation and characterization of impurities for antihypertensive drugs, synthesis of new molecules for treatment of diabetes, potentiation of lipid lowering activity of statins, development of pharmacopeial monographs for drugs from plant origin, development of herbal insecticidal formulation, psycophamacological evaluation of herbal formulation etc. More than 190 research papers have been published in various national and international journals and more than 15 patents have been filed during this period. Some collaborative research work has also been done for medicinal plant research and product development with Vasu Herbal Reaserch, Vadodara and University of Sciences, Philadelphia. Few consultancy projects have been completed for Anlon CRO, Tapobhumi Pharmaceuticals and Ayukalp UAP PharmaPvt Ltd generating the revenue more than 5 lakh rupees.