Govt policies are conducive for growth of pharma sector
India has largest number of FDA approved plants, and exports pharma products to 200 countries with worth more than US$50 billion, according to Arunish Chawla, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals.
As such, India has the potential to grow 3-4 times in value by achieving a shift from 10% share of Pharma and MedTech in manufacturing sector in 2020 to 20% share in 2030, he told delegates at CII 5th Life Sciences Summit 2023 held on 17 Nov in New Delhi.
“Currently Life Sciences industry is at its EDGE, where E is for efficiency, D for Demographic Dividend, G is for Government policy and E for Economies of scale, he elaborated.
He emphasized on 3 key themes – Policy, Research, and Industrial Strategy.
“Innovation is on rise in India – MedTech, assistive technology and smart medicine is evolving but a streamlined innovation strategy is required.”
Silos need to be broken between academia, laboratories, and industry. A shift is required from publications to patents and a mechanism for research oriented sponsored degrees from industry is the need of the hour to foster innovation, said Chawla.
India has undergone a structural change and has become an active exporter from passive importer, he pointed out.
He called on the Indian pharma industry to utilize its technical resources, demographic dividend, skilled manpower, forward looking government policies and economies of scale to become a world leader in Pharmaceuticals.
Policies introduced by the government are conducive to the growth of the sector, added Dr Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) in his address to the CII delegates.
Emphasizing the need for innovation, he wants the industry to appreciate initiatives like 100% FDI through direct route for greenfield projects.
He also wants the industry to focus on national policy on R & D for MedTech and Pharma, increase in investments and government support through BIRAC that funds startups for proof of concept, availability of alternate funds and so on. He emphasized that Corporate Venture Funds are required from industry to handhold startups and international scale up.
“Focus on developing research and innovation framework of the country and development of Bio-Manufacturing in India,” said Kumar.
India is now a global force in Active Ingredients space and is emerging as a major player in manufacturing and supply of vaccines, according to G V Prasad, Chairman, CII National Committee on Pharmaceuticals and Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Limited.
He highlighted the importance of reforming business models, self-reliance, innovation, and global collaboration for enterprises in the Life Sciences domain.
Biological drugs and biosimilars is a major area which drives growth in India, added Prasad.
He pointed out that CII’s work will continue to focus on promoting vertical integration in supply chain, strengthening the domestic manufacturing to reduce import dependency, strengthening ecosystem for Innovation including industry-academia collaboration, improving market access and the economic growth of the sector, improving global supply chain issues for combating future global pandemics and to address regulatory issues at the national and state level and work for improving Ease of Doing Business in Pharma.
The sector’s current landscape is very optimistic and is showing unprecedented growth, according to Dr Rajesh Jain, Chairman, CII National Committee on Biotechnology and Chairman & Managing Director, Panacea Biotech Ltd.
He appreciated the active support of Government through various policies and reforms like Make in India and DBT.
He emphasized that Biotech incubators and startups are the growth drivers, and the number of such startups will increase to 10,000 by next year.
CII’s focus this year will be to facilitate improvements in the Regulatory Framework, make it transparent, simple, and harmonized to promote the research and development of the sector, assured Jain.
He called for upscaling cell and Gene therapy, skilling and training of regulatory workforce, improvements in IP and Biodiversity law aspects, Industry-academia collaboration and vaccine development will be other important areas of attention by CII. Fiinews.com
