India and Japan could collaborate in a number of industrial segments including pharmaceuticals. Key elements for establishing such collaborations are already in place. One major area where India and Japan can collaborate in pharmaceuticals is a generic drug, Dr Hiroki Sawa, senior advisor, Actimus Biosciences, told Pharmabiz.

Under the Japan-India generic drugs initiative for exports, Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), Japan issues DMFs to Indian generic drug companies, which wish to export drugs to Japan. Mandatory plant inspections will be also be conducted by PMDA. This initiative brings in abundant opportunities to India as Japan has $80 billion Pharma market.

In Japan, there is a problem of high and rising healthcare costs. According to Ministry of Health Labour & Welfare (MHL&W), Government of Japan, generics make up 16 per cent of the drug market, in comparison to 41 per cent, 53 per cent and 55 per cent market share in Germany, US and the UK, respectively.

Today, generic drugs account for about five per cent of pharma market value, but by 2010, Japan will likely be Asia's largest generic market as the government makes stakeholders more price-conscious, he informed.

The central issue facing global healthcare, beyond public health and preventive medicine, is the affordability of, and accessibility to, novel, safe, and effective medicines. There are two avenues to this destination- generic medicines, and a quality-based, cost-effective development pathway for innovative products.

India is well positioned to contribute along both avenues in the evaluation of generic drug candidates, and in the partnered development of innovative drugs, especially in natural products discovery, and clinical trials, said Dr Sawa, who is also currently, president, Healthcare System Institute, Tokyo, Japan and is actively involved in strategizing a Japan-India partnership in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.