With the Indian life sciences and biotechnology sector witnessing unprecedented changes due to evolving regulatory regimes of drug price control and generic drugs and implementation of GST, the 15th edition of BioAsia being held at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) from February 22-24, 2018, will be dwelling on new strategies and new models to cope up with the rapid changes in the distribution and delivery of healthcare in the country.
As the life sciences sector in India is facing dramatic changes, driven by a convergence of demographic growth, urbanization, digitization, and a continued push on financial inclusion, it is high time the policy makers and the industry leaders and biotechnology companies revisited their existing strategies and reorient their business models.
Taking cognizance of these developments, the organizers have designed the theme ‘Right Time, Right Now’ for BioAsia 2018, wherein policy makers, industry leaders and key strategy makers will thrash out strategies to cope up with the rapid pace of changes, innovative ways to develop new models for distribution & healthcare delivery and discuss the opportunities that exist right now for the life sciences value chain.
“The theme focuses on the contemporary issues that the biotechnology industry is facing today and through this forum of BioAsia 2018, a platform is being set for the industry leaders to discuss and deliberate on the challenges, opportunities and act in the right time at the right place so as to make the biotechnology industry more robust and resilient to the changing times,” observed Shakti Nagapan, Chief Executive Officer of BioAsia.
Not just the life sciences and biotechnology industry, the Indian generic manufacturers have also been facing major challenges during the past few years. Price erosion, coupled with regulatory activism and protectionism has significantly impacted export revenues and margins of both biotechnology and generic drug manufacturers in India. In view of this, it is high time the industry leaders thought of chalking out new strategies to meet the fast changes taking place both at domestic as well as international levels. BioAsia 2018 is definitely an apt platform for the biotechnology, pharma and healthcare stakeholders to work together to develop new models of distribution and healthcare delivery systems which will be more robust and can withstand the regulatory regimes in the long run, observed the CEO.
In fact, after the breakup of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the newly formed state of Telangana has taken up the mantle of hosting the annual BioAsia biotechnology event and it has become the flagship event of the Government of Telangana.
As already Hyderabad is home to hundreds of biotechnology industries making it the second life sciences hub of the country after Bangalore, hosting of BioAsia will give the much needed boost for the state government to attract new investors in the biotechnology and life sciences sectors.
After making its debut way back in 2003 in Hyderabad, the event is going to complete its 15 successful editions this year. Over the years, this unique platform has been effective in bringing together all the stakeholder of pharma and life sciences sectors from national and international arena.
During its 15 years journey, BioAsia has emerged as the premier technology and bio-business convention in Asia for life sciences, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. This year the event is likely to witness participation of more than 1,500 delegates from across 55 countries with more than 100 high prolific speakers and 500 corporates.
For this year’s event, countries such as Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa are taking part as International Partners whereas the Gujarat, Assam and Rajasthan are the Indian state partners.
High-profile delegations from these regions will be attending series of meetings to explore the business opportunities, collaborations in the field of research and innovation and sharing know-how to meet the requirement of affordable drugs and treatment for emerging diseases.
While giving his perspective on the BioAsia 2018, K. Taraka Rama Rao (KTR), Minister for Industries, MAUD and Information Technology, government of Telangana pointed out that Hyderabad had always been a pharma and life sciences destination for major companies across the world. For instance the Genome Valley which has become the largest innovation and life sciences cluster in Asia has the privilege of being India's first and only systematically developed R&D having clean manufacturing ecosystem and is a shining example of Telangana’s dominant position in life sciences sector.
“With new industrial clusters like Pharma City and Medical Devices Park, Hyderabad is ready to assume leadership role of the life sciences industry in Asia and the world. BioAsia has been an integral part of the Hyderabad’s growth story and we are committed to scale up the event to greater heights. As has been the case in the past, BioAsia 2018 will witness some of the global leaders visiting Hyderabad and will certainly augment the growth of not only the country’s life sciences and healthcare industry but will also strengthen the leadership of Telangana in this field,” said KTR.
Expressing hope that BioAsia will leverage the state government’s new policy initiatives and encourage industrial environment by the government , Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries and Information Technology observed that BioAsia over the years has emerged as one of the pre-eminent meetings in Asia for the life sciences and healthcare sectors.“We are glad that government of Telangana is partnering this event; we have got an overwhelming response and expect that more than 1500 delegates from across different countries to take part in the event ,” said Jayesh Ranjan.
Not just the government of Telangana, this year’s BioAsia 2018 is strongly supported by various government organizations including the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department of Biotechnology, and BIRAC among others. Deloitte, the software giant has come forward to become the knowledge partners for the event. “We are looking forward to BioAsia 2018 to leverage our industry friendly policies and the advanced infrastructure to attract more global companies”, added the IT Secretary.
According to organizers, this year’s event will be hosting an exhibition of biotechnology companies where in more than 100 companies and start-ups are expected to showcase their innovative products, services and solutions in life sciences, medtech and healthcare.
BioAsia 2017 had witnessed participation of around 1,500 registered delegates from 51 countries. It also conducted around 1,200 trade, partnership & deliberation meetings and drew investments close to Rs.3400 crores.
The organizers are optimistic that the 15th edition of BioAsia will become a big hit with more investments pouring in and more MoUs, partnerships and collaborations being signed. This year’s event is expected to come out with a draft resolution for adopting new changes along with the changing times for making biotechnology and life sciences sector more robust and resilient.