Mid-cap companies that form the majority of Indian pharma sphere are quite bullish on the pro-duct patent regime that has recently set in the country. Their claim is that the MNCs cannot ignore India, as it is the only country in the world, which is an answer to the ever-increasing rise in R&D and manufacturing related expenditure for an MNC.

India's obligation to the WTO regime and subsequent assurance for IPR protection would only increase the confidence of an MNC, feel representatives of Indian pharma industry. However, they do feel that basic research will not be the thrust area for Indian companies, although the industry has noticed few developments here as exhibited by companies like Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's Labs.

"Generally bigger mid-cap companies would focus on three aspects like NDDS development, development of generic products for the regulated world and contract research areas like developing non-infringing processes in the area of API manufacture for MNCs," said Shirish Mody, director, JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Lower mid-cap pharma companies would focus on API and NDDS development, he said.

Mody's views were echoed by other industry representative like Indoco Remedies chairman, Suresh Kare. "Contract R&D, NDDS development and areas concerning the API synthesis would be the key areas sought after by Indian mid-cap companies. The R&D budget of Indian companies are going to significantly rise from the current 1-2 % to 5 per cent of the overall sales in the next couple of years," he said.

"Currently, we can see Indian companies setting up worldclass R&D labs and recruiting top cadre scientists, which demonstrate their seriousness to take on the WTO regime. India, having a traditional base in herbal drug therapy, a significant number of pharma companies are doing research on herbal drugs in the areas like malaria, cancer and other life style related diseases," said a senior analyst based in Mumbai.