India is set to take a larger share of European and USA generics markets as demand expands, with generics still representing the core strength of manufacturers. Moreover, as developing nations continue to grow their healthcare systems, the market penetration across regions like Africa will expand rapidly- where total growth is predicted to expand by a remarkable 25-30 per cent by volume per year.  

These were some of the thoughts shared at Asia’s biggest pharma show, the CPhI /P-MEC India 2014 being held in Mumbai organised by UBM.  Along with its co-located events P-MEC and ICSE, CPhI/P-MEC India spread over three days, the event has over 1000 plus exhibitors from over 100 countries participating. All set to offer opportunities for moving up the Global Pharma value chain, the event is likely to be attended by over 30,000 delegates from across the globe.

Joji George, managing director, UBM India said, “Against the backdrop of India constantly seeking to match and surpass western quality standards while maintaining lower manufacturing costs, at UBM, our objective for CPhI 2014 is to help elevate India as the global pharmaceutical destination by showcasing the unique positioning of the Indian pharma market and provide an optimum investment platform amidst its global counterparts.”

The event also saw the launch of the CPhI Pharma Insights : India 2015 report which forecasts new MNCs to emerge from India’s pharma SMEs and Japan & Africa as key export growth markets. Indian manufacturers evolving up value chain, concentrating on high-value, low volume work and shifting some R&D programmes to Western economies. NCE launch is also predicted in next few years. The report also says that India’s biggest companies will see growth in CRAMS services for patented products as trust in regulatory and quality standards increases and India to increasing become a hotbed of clinical trial supply and advanced development work. Biggest players will grow technology base through overseas acquisitions and partnering with big pharma for R&D.

Said Dr Ajit Dangi, president & CEO , Danssen Consulting, 'In CPhI/P- MEC, the key elements have always been innovation and excellence. Organisations are increasingly focusing on 3 Ps - People, Planet and Profit and have started recruiting Chief Sustainability Officers to give them competitive edge. The CPhI/P-MEC event will provide good insight in to initiatives in this area.”

Report also says that expenditures on R&D by thirty of the top pharmaceutical companies in India rose by 19.7 per cent, with investments focused on novel drug delivery systems.

Opines Rutger Oudejans,  brand director, pharma at UBM, “CPhI has been a key presence in India for a number of years and the event is an essential cog in internationalising this pharma hub. What’s been most impressive is the ability of companies here to constantly develop themselves through new services and technologies. These findings and trends clearly show India is cementing itself as the global centre of generics and manufacturing innovations. Over the next few years, many of the companies present at CPhI India 2014, will grow into global entities supplying both western and developing markets.”

In recent years, we have seen India vastly increase its capabilities, expanding from API manufacturing to finished dosage delivery. Furthermore, India’s API producers are now shifting towards high value, low volume work, with complex chemistry and IP challenges- by using this strategy in the last 2-years alone, Megafine has grown at an annualised rate of over 30 per cent, taking its turnover past US$ 40 million.

Said Devinder Pal, president, Catalyst Pharma Consult: "One of the key challenges faced by the industry is to reclaim the enviable reputation it had earned, which has unfortunately got tarnished, rather badly. Happily, the FDA administered jolts have done the trick – it has awakened the industry to the need of building quality culture and shunning complacency and Juggad."

Another area that will transform over the coming years is biotechnology and biosimilars, which the CPhI Pharma Insights : India report envisages further investment and expansion across, and by 2020, this part of the market will have risen up to around 15 per cent of total sales.

Industry leaders applauded the new Government of India’s efforts for actively supporting the pharma industry. It is encouraging that Indian regulators visited the FDA to conduct training and the government is completely committed to enhancing the pharma sector’s reputation globally with the launch of the Responsible Healthcare Trust.

Sudarshan Jain, MD, Abbott Healthcare solutions said, “The Indian pharmaceutical sector is clearly growing, making significant contributions to the Indian economy and putting us on the global map. This sector is redefining itself by moving to ‘next practices’ from ‘best practices’. We see strong thrust in the manufacturing arena in line with our national priority of ‘Make in India’. Some of the entries for the award clearly reflect good work done by Indian pharma industry and augurs well for industry”.

Globally,  the largest pharma companies in India have consolidated an exports market presence, and following these ‘market makers’, a second wave of Indian manufacturing firms are looking to grow beyond the $100million mark and to increasingly export internationally. One key new region to emerge for exports is Japan, a market that currently has limited overseas penetration and which is now opening its doors. Collectively Indian companies are looking at this region as the next great growth market. key area will be South and Latin America, where a number of Indian exporters are currently targeting their efforts- countries like Argentina recently removed trade barriers and are welcoming Indian imports for their healthcare economy.

Winners were declared across 9 categories with over 100 companies participating in this year’s India Pharma Awards 2014 winners. These awards honor innovation and excellence in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, thus creating an industry platform to celebrate the contribution of its key players amongst their Indian and international fraternity. Winners are Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd for Operational Excellence in API. Operational Excellence,  Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd  in  Formulation. Jubilant Lifesciences Ltd for Excellence in Environment, Health & Safety (EHS), ACG Worldwide  for Excellence in Packaging Development, Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd for Excellence in Contract Research, Piramal Foundation and  Jubilant Life sciences Ltd for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility, Ranjeeta Vinil (Saarathi Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.) as Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year. Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on  Ajit Singh (ACG Worldwide) and Special Jury Award to Dr. J N Banerjee.