The 3rd annual BIO India conference, organised by Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in partnership with Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) saw the industry body addressing key issues in tandem with major industry players. During the event, the experts expressed their views and shared ideas on public policies that are intended to bring about innovation, collaboration and investment in the biotech sector, particularly strong intellectual property (IP) protections and regulatory mechanisms.

The industry patrons led by Kiran Mazumdar–Shaw, CMD, Biocon; H Thomas Watkins, former president & CEO, Human Genome Sciences, Inc along with Alan Eisenberg, executive vice president, emerging companies and business development, BIO and P M Murali, president, ABLE discussed on thread bare issues like strong intellectual property as well as patent enforcement, strong tax and regulatory system, strong support for R&D, streamlined safety and efficacy testing and approval process.

It was agreed upon by the industry that they do not believe that the compulsory licensing of innovative products or technology generally is an effective means of promoting access or affordability of healthcare. Moreover, they pointed out that it undermines incentives for companies and individuals to innovate in India, since it creates uncertainty about receiving economic returns for their innovations.

Some commented that the indiscriminate use of compulsory licenses would thus jeopardise India’s goal of developing into a research oriented biotechnology industry, and is unsound policy. All participants agreed that the issuance of India’s guidelines on similar biologics is a step in the right direction. “The guidelines recognise the scientific and regulatory complexities presented by the development and manufacture of biologic medicines. What follows next is industry collaboration in  the implementation of these guidelines in a manner that continues to protect patient safety and ensure continued research and development of new cures and treatments,” said Alan Eisenberg.

However, he did point out that India needs to recognise scientific differences between small molecule therapeutics and biologics. The US industry represented by BIO urged the Government of India to include substantial non-patent data exclusivity in its policy and respect intellectual property and other legal rights. All participants agreed that there is scope for continued discussion and collaboration on these key issues.

The two-day conference promises to offer opportunity for large as well as small biotech companies to gather in one place and engage in partnering discussions with biotech leaders from around the world. Experts deliberated and discussed on the future of development and production of vaccines in India which featured the presence of Dr Cyrus Poonawalla as a panellist.

Tomorrows session will discuss on commercialising stem cell therapies and regenerative medicine’ which will be held in the presence of B N Manohar, managing director and CEO, Stempeutics Research, Virender S Sangwan, associate director, L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) and Chandra Viswanathan, head of regenerative medicines group, Reliance Life Sciences as panellists.