Interphex India, the most important international trade exhibition of the pharmaceutical industry, got off to a flying start at Bombay Exhibition Centre here in Mumbai which will provide a platform to the pharmaceutical industry to showcase its strengths and opportunities. The event will bring together world's leading pharmaceutical trade brands with one of the world's most fertile and fast moving pharma markets, India.

The event is being held concurrently with the Indian Pharmaceutical Association's (IPA) annual convention. Organized by Reed Exhibitions, the largest trade exhibition organizer in the world with more than 420 trade shows annually worldwide, the event comes to India for the first time with the support of Chronicle Pharmabiz, the leading pharma industry magazine in South Asia. The theme of the convention is 'Credible India: sustaining the competitive advantage'.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories managing director and chief operating officer Dr Satish Reddy formally inaugurated the IPA convention here today which also marked the opening of the 3-day Interphex India exhibition. IPA president Subhodh Priolkar, Reed Exhibitions, India, MD Mike Allsopp and a large number of industry captains and business delegates from all over the world were present in the function.

The IPA Convention will be an excellent platform for building new business relationships and networking, especially for international companies who wish to enter the Indian market. Special sessions at the convention will address business, regulatory and manufacturing issues that are crucial to new entrants to the Indian Pharma industry and experienced speakers will offer insights relating to key issues and concepts.

In his welcome speech, IPA president Subhodh Priolkar said that the event would offer a deserving international platform for the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Likewise, for the international industry, the convention will provide a platform to know about the industry environment existing in the country.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr Reddy's Laboratories MD and CEO Dr Satish Reddy called upon the pharma industry of the country to shift to innovation to tap the growing pharmaceutical market in the world. He said that the key to future for the pharmaceutical industry is innovation. It is time the pharmaceutical industry in the county looked for shifting from cost to innovation. The world pharma market identifies the country with low cost and not with innovation. This trend should change for the better growth of the industry, he said.

Addressing the august gathering, Dr Reddy said innovation is the key for the future drive of the industry. He recalled the industry from the time in the 1950s and 1960s when medicines were imported to the country by multinational companies (MNCs). There was only one Soviet assisted state owned company IDPL. It was in the era of 1970 to 1990 that the Indian pharma industry witnessed rapid growth in the country with the introduction of Patent Act. Industry witnessed investments driven by international expansion of Indian companies and Indian companies began foray into the regulated markets of US and Europe.

Dr Reddy said that after the year 2000, the Indian pharma industry is growing with an added momentum due to the several advantages which will benefit the country in the coming years. The Indian industry has grown to such a level that it is involved in several mergers and acquisitions of the pharma firms all over the world.

He said India is poised to capture the global API opportunities in the coming years and now the API export is growing by 30 per cent. Besides, Indian companies are playing a vital role in the world generic market. Companies are expanding their global market through alliances and acquisitions.

Stressing that the future potential lies with outsourcing and drug discovery, Dr Reddy said the country is witnessing a large number of outsourcing due to several factors like cost leadership, lower filing cost, process innovative and low manpower cost.

On the drug discovery, Dr Reddy said it is sad that at a time when the international players are shifting their activities to India, Indian scientists are preferring to work in US and Europe. He also lamented that there are issues like lack of world class research institutes and also lack of funding by the government agencies to encourage research activities in the country. There is lack of leadership in science and the scientists in India are not part of leading edge thinkers, he said.