The School of Life Science and Biotechnology organized industrial visits to Mankind Pharma and Lupin Pharmaceuticals in Sikkim for final-year students. In addition, CDC arranged another trip to Alkem labs for students. Thirty-three students enrolled both in the undergraduate and postgraduate programs from the School of Life Science and Biotechnology visited these prestigious production plants during February 12-13, 2020. The students were accompanied and guided by three faculty members from the School of Life Science and Biotechnology; Dr. Kuntal Pal from Department of Biotechnology, Dr. Srijan Haldar from Department of Biochemistry and Dr. Sanmitra Ghosh from Department of Microbiology. During these visits, students got an opportunity to observe capsule, tablet and injectable production facilities in these companies and received an in-depth understanding of warehouse storage, quality control, production and packaging units in pharmaceutical industry. Besides, students also learnt about different steps involved in medicine production and regulations associated with medicine production. The faculty members had a productive meeting with senior Human Resource officials of these organizations and discussed prospects of student internships and jobs. Of note, a meeting with Vice-President and Plant-Head of Mankind Pharma, Mr. Munesh Sharma was promising where prospects of training and hiring students from the Department of Microbiology was discussed in detail. Not only students gained an exposure to pharmaceutical industry in these visits but it also opened up possibilities of internships and jobs in pharmaceutical companies for students.
