Department of Pharmacy Andhra University
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Andhra University is the second institute in india to start pharmacy courses at University level in 1930's. The pharmacy courses were initially offered in the B.Sc. Honours degree of chemical technology and as a specialization at M.Sc. Chemical Technology level. The importance of pharmaceutical sciences led to the formation of a separate department in 1951, with the commencement of B.Pharm. course with late Prof. S. Rangaswamy as founder Head of the Department. The M.Pharm. course was started in 1954. A separate Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences was formed in 1975.
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Andhra University
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India is a pioneering institution of higher learning and research in various disciplines of Arts, Commerce, Management, Science, Engineering, Technology, Law and Fine Arts. Many eminent scholars, administrators and researchers over the last seven and a half decades molded this institution into one of the best in the country with international reputation. The university has been accredited and awarded grade ‘A’ under the new grading system by the UGC-NAAC Committee. The University now offers 168 courses in various disciplines in its 67 constituent university departments and 370 affiliated colleges. The University has a self-contained campus of more than 350 hectares with permanent buildings and laboratories for each department. Under the dynamic leadership of the present Vice-Chancellor, Prof. L. Venugopala Reddy, the University is marching fast to reach newer heights of excellence.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Development and Progress
Andhra University is the second institute in the country to start Pharmacy courses at University level in 1930’s. The Pharmacy courses were initially offered in the B.Sc. Honours degree of Chemical Technology and as a specialization at M.Sc. Chemical Technology level. The importance of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the context of the developing pharmaceutical industry led to the formation of a separate department in 1951, with the commencement of B.Pharm. Course with late Prof. S. Rangaswamy as founder Head of the Department. The M.Pharm Course was started in 1954. A separate Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences was formed in 1975.
At present, the department offers B.Pharm. and Post-graduate M.Pharm and Ph.D. programmes in six specializations namely
Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical and Food Analysis, Pharmacology
and Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. The department has the distinction of being the first in the country to start
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology division. Prof. S. Rangaswamy and founder faculty members Prof. V. Subba Rao, Prof. N. Viswanadham,
Prof. K. Sambamurthy and Prof. E. Venkata Rao laid solid foundations and molded the department into one of the best in the
country.
As per the present admission procedures, students who have qualified by pass in intermediate or 10 + 2 are taken into B.Pharm., based on their rank in EAMCET exam. Conducted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The total number of seats available is 40, with a subdivision of 17 : 17 : 6 for students belonging to M.P.C., Bi.P.C. and Diploma in Pharmacy streams respectively. Students with Diploma in Pharmacy qualification are admitted based on a separate entrance test conducted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The policy of reservation of seats to different categories of people followed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh is applicable to the admissions into B.Pharm. and into M.Pharm. The seats in M.Pharm are 10 in each specialization and admissions are based on GATE (qualifying test conducted on All India level) and on percentage of marks obtained at B.Pharm. level. There are 13 UGC fellowships in M.Pharm. which are given on merit basis.
Past Heads of the Department
Eminent teachers and researchers who served as “Heads of the Department” in the past and contributed richly to its development include
late Prof. S. Rangaswamy (1951-1963),
Prof. V. Subba Rao (1963-1979),
Prof. N. Viswanadham (1979-1982),
late Prof. K. Sambamurthy (1982-1985),
Prof. E. Venkata Rao (1985-1988),
Prof. D. Visweswaram (1988-1991),
Prof. M. Vimala Devi (1993-1995),
Prof. D. Venkata Rao (1996-1998),
Prof. P. Ellaiah (1999-2001),
and Prof. K.P.R. Chowdary (2002-2005).
Faculty
Prof. G. Prabhakar a professor in Pharmaceutical and Food Analysis is the present Head of the Department.
Andhra University has an MOU with Alcorn State University (ASU) of USA on MIRT Programme under which some ASU students got trained in a summer programme in the Pharmacology division of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Zoology.
The Department is staffed by a faculty, which is known for its academic excellence and expertise in research. Prof. K.P.R.Chowdary (23 Ph.Ds, 48 M.Pharms, 205 research papers) is a recipient of several national awards for his excellence in research and teaching and his research interests include controlled release, microencapsulation, mucoadhesive drug delivery systems, biopharmaceutics and pharmaceutical formulations including herbal products.
Prof. G. Prabhakar, (3 Ph.Ds, 70 M. Pharms, 25 research papers) the present Head of the Department guides research in analysis of foods, drugs and water, development of methods for testing the microbiological quality and nutritional aspects of processed food products and vegetables and developing new analytical methods for determination of drugs and pharmaceuticals.
Prof. S. Satyanarayana (10 Ph.Ds. 54 M.Pharms, 55 research papers) a professor in Pharmacology, has experience of working as postdoctoral scientist at Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies at University of Kentucky, and is the present Chairman of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.His major areas of research include drug interactions, colonic drug delivery systems, pharmacological screening of herbal drugs and food additives for anti diabetic, anti ulcer, hepatoprotective, nootropic, carditonic, antidepressant, adaptogenic and antiasthmatic activities, synthesis and evaluation of novel analogs of reserpine and pharmaceutical evaluation of homeopathic drugs.
Prof. B.S. Sastry the present Chairman of the P.G. Board of Studies of Pharmaceutical Sciences is a professor in Pharmaceutical chemistry (4 Ph.Ds, 40 M.Pharms, 50 Research papers) and he contributed two chapters in books published by the Academic Press, New York. His current research interests include investigations on Indian medicinal plants and development of new and improved analytical methods for drugs.
Prof. T. Satyanarayana (6 Ph.Ds, 45 M.Pharms, 18 Research papers) is a member of the Pharmacy Council of India and is a professor in Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. His research areas of interest include isolation, characterization of bioactive molecules from medicinal plants and screening them for various biological activities and development of herbal formulations.
Prof. S. Ganapathy (11 Ph.Ds, 36 M.Pharms, 60 Research papers) is a professor in Pharmacognosy and phytochemistry and has also trained in Pharmacology in the University of Strathclyde, U.K. and obtained M.Sc. degree in pharmacology. His research areas of interest include isolation, purification and characterization of biodynamic molecules from natural sources and screening for their biological activities, development of tissue culture techniques for yield improvement of therapeutically active molecules and development of herbal formulations. Prof.
K.V. Ramana Murthy (9 Ph.Ds, 24 M.Pharms, 57 Research papers) is a professor in Pharmaceutical Technology. His areas of research interest include development of new excipients from natural polysaccharides, improvement of the oral bioavailability of poorly water soluble drugs through lipid based formulations, design biopharmaceutical evaluation of controlled drug delivery systems and design of gastro retentive drug delivery systems.
Smt. D.K.M. Lakshmi (30 M.Pharms, 10 Research papers) is an associate professor in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Her areas of research interest include medicinal chemistry of natural products, synthesis of bioactive heterocyclic compounds and molecular modifications of naturally occurring and medicinally important chemical entities.
Prof. J.V.L.N. Seshagiri Rao (30 M.Pharms, 35 Research papers) is a professor in the field of Pharmaceutical Analysis. His areas of research interest include nutritional evaluation of foods, mineral profiles of ground waters, development of new methods of determination of various drugs in formulations and biological fluids using spectrophotometry, HPLC etc. and complexation studies of drugs.
Prof. T. Prabhakar (35 M.Pharms, 15 Research papers) is an expert in the field of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. His areas of research interest include microbial genetics, strain improvement, immobalization of enzymes and cells and antibiotic fermentations.
Sri A. Kondaiah (22 M.Pharms, 1 Research paper) is an associate professor in the field of Pharmaceutical Technology. His areas of research interest include transdermal drug delivery systems, studies on pharmaceutical formulations like suspensions and controlled drug delivery systems.
Prof. P. Rajeswara Rao (25 M.Pharms, 15 Research papers) is a professor in the field of Pharmacology. His major areas of research include Pharmacological investigations (hepatoprotectine, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-ulcer, wound healing and cardioprotective activities), cardiovascular and renal pharmacology, evaluation of eco friendly herbal drugs and development of herbal drugs formulations.
Prof. D. Gowri Sankar (4 Ph.Ds, 20 M.Pharms, 115 Research papers) is a professor in the field of Pharmaceutical Analysis. His major areas of research interest include new analytical method development for drugs and pharmaceuticals by HPLC; U.V., Visible Spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry.
Prof. Ganga Rao, Battu (10 M.Pharms, 25 Research papers) is a professor in the field of Pharmacognosy. He obtained two Ph.D degrees, one from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Andhra University and a second one from the University of Strath Clyde University, U.K. His areas of research interest include bioassay directed isolation and/or purification of anti-rheumatic, anti-cancer, and anti-hepatotoxic molecules from traditional plant medicines and identification and structure determination of purified molecules using spectroscopic methods.
Prof. J. Vijaya Ratna (1 Ph.D, 15 M.Pharms, 13 Research papers) is a professor in the field of Pharmaceutical Technology. Her research areas of interest include controlled release, microencapsulation, bioequivalence, permeation enhancers and ion-exchange resinate formulations.
Dr. Y. Rajendra Prasad (1 Ph.Ds, 12 M.Pharms, 20 Research papers) is an Associate Professor in the field of Pharmaceutical chemistry and he is also the credit of working as an Associate Professor in the faculty of Pharmacy, Al Arab Medical University, Benghazi, Libya for 2 years. His areas of research interest include medicinal chemistry of natural products, synthesis of bioactive heterocyclic compounds and molecular modifications of naturally occurring and medicinally important chemical entities.
Dr. A. Annapurna (1 Ph.Ds, 15 M.Pharms, 20 Research papers) is an Associate Professor in the field of Pharmacology. Her research interests include cardiovascular pharmacology, diabetes and its renal and cardiovascular complications and pharmacological screening and evaluations.
The department has always realized that serious research is the backbone of quality education and the growth of research and
teaching always went hand in hand. The department has contributed significantly in all major fields of research in pharmacy. Even
the earliest research by the founder faculty member of the department Prof. E. Venkata Rao resulted in the discovery of a new
cardiac drug Peruvoside which is being manufactured by an Italian firm Indena even today. The research in the department has been
consistently sustained during the last 5 decades. The 88 Ph.D. degrees awarded. 1010 research papers published by the faculty in
national and international journals of repute and the campus and national awards won by the faculty bear testimony to the quality
of research carried out in the department. The research of the faculty members has been consistently supported by funding
agencies such as CSIR, UGC, DST and AICTE. Thirty-one major research projects have been completed and 11 major research projects
worth of Rs.1.88 crores are ongoing.
Several faculty members have won campus, state and national awards and other recognition for their excellence in teaching and
research. Most of the faculty members are subject experts and inspectors of Pharmacy Council of India and All India Council for
Technical Education, which are the constitutional bodies for the purpose of approval and accreditation of various pharmacy
colleges in the country.
About alumni
The alumni of the department are holding high positions in prestigious national and international bodies, drug industry, drugs
control administration and in Universities in India and abroad. A good rapport is being maintained between the department and its
alumni. The alumni has formed an association named Andhra University Pharmacy Alumni Charitable Trust (AUPACT) and has established an industrial pharmacy unit in the department in 1998. The faculty of the department has
shown their commitment and dynamism by conducting a number of workshops, national and international seminars and conferences and
also the prestigious Indian Pharmaceutical Congress twice, in 1977 and in 1995.
Reference
http://www.andhrauniversity.info/engg/pharma/
Author
This article is contributed by Smt. Prof. Jayanti Vijaya Ratna .
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