Stent pricing has the potential to block innovations and limit access to world-class medical care options to deserving patients, said Varun Khanna, Chairman, Working Group & Executive Committee, Advamed India and Managing Director, BD India & South Asia.
“Although the intent to cap stent prices is in the interest of patients, the possible outcome could be compromised healthcare. The singular focus on controlling ceiling price of stents, without attempting to address the larger picture and correct inefficiencies in the healthcare ecosystem will not achieve its stated benefit, in the long run,” he added.
Unavailability of choice and access to the latest generation of stents might mean an exodus of patients to other or neighboring countries, thus defeating the intent of making cardiac care more affordable in India, Khanna told Pharmabiz.
India serves as an attractive destination for foreign patients who look for affordable healthcare without compromising on the quality of treatment. Moreover, the country’s market dynamics are such that it has a great potential to create domestic partnerships and adopt new technologies, which if explored well, can catapult the India’s status in manufacturing capabilities by highlighting its competitiveness and credibility, he said.
Delving on the medical devices sector in the country, Khanna said that the advantages of the new implementations like the recent changes in the foreign exchange regulations has allowed 100 per cent FDI. This provides a great opportunity for players to invest in the country. The sector has tremendous growth potential because of which it has also attracted mergers & acquisitions and private equity capital in the last 5 years which enables strategic partnerships. Also, separating the medical devices from drugs is an initiation in the process of implementing its various recommendations.
In India, majority of people have ailments related to orthopaedic, cardiovascular, diabetes and neurological disorders. This automatically creates a demand for medical devices. Also, according to recent reports, the highest registrations are in the cardiovascular and orthopaedic devices, said Khanna.
New regulatory and policy frameworks like the ‘Make in India’ campaign enables the country to become a major manufacturing hub, which also brings in newer technologies. While the government is opening doors for this campaign, policy framework must play a vital role in favouring R&D, increase demand for devices, creating infrastructure and providing fiscal incentives.
Currently the Indian medical device market is valued at US$ 4.4 billion and is expected touch US$ 25-30 billion by 2025. While diagnostic and imaging constitute 37 per cent, medical consumables is 16 per cent, orthopaedic & prosthetics are 10 per cent, with the remaining 37 percent being patient aids and dental products. The industry is fragmented with the bulk of the 65 per cent manufacturing done by SMEs, focusing on low-margin, low technology products like consumables and disposables like bandages, suturing materials, and syringes. The high-tech and high-quality medical products space, such as diagnostic and imaging equipment, is largely dominated by multinationals.