Innovation is at the heart of the pharmaceuticals industry and has been the sole factor in developing successful new chemical entities (NCEs). There are increasing opportunities for Indian pharma companies to collaborate with multinationals in research as the pipeline of global companies are drying, said, Ranjit Shahani, president of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) while addressing the Healthcare and Pharma Summit organized by the Indian School of Business (ISB), and OPPI at Hyderabad, last week.
Intellectual Property is always a competitive advantage for pharma companies globally. Countries with stringent regulations are preferring to invest in those countries that respect IP protection. Countries like India are seen as most desired outsourcing partners in the area of bulk drugs, formulations, clinical trials and bioinformatics, according to Dr Ajit Dangi, director general, OPPI.
Over-regulations in pharma industry is a major concern for the companies that operate in the segment. The benefits offered by patenting are also perceived differently by industry and regulatory bodies in India. The time taken to frame regulations on various aspects had usually been too long than necessary, observed, Kewal Handa, managing director, Pfizer.
India has enormous advantage in conduct of clinical trials with the vast medical talent pool and treatment naïve patients. The country has also the ability to supply quality off-patented drugs. Though US will remain as a hub for pharma R&D, India can play a vital role in this direction, said, Shailesh Ayyangar, managing director of Aventis Pharma.
Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hsopitals, said, the medical tourism sector in India is estimated to grow at 30 per cent annually boosting the $ 17 billion global healthcare sector. Medical tourism could become a $ 1 billion sector in the next years in India. There are some concerns such as lack of health insurance for treatments that needs to be addressed.
Dr Nam Perumalswamy, chairman of Aravind Eye Care System, presented how his organization established an affordable yet sustainable healthcare model, which can be emulated across the country. It was set up with 11-bed capacity initially, which has established five health centres with a total capacity of 3600 beds at present. He said, about 200 million people in India need eye care and annual cost of blindness to the nation is estimated to be about $ 3 billion.
A similar success story has also been made by LV Prasad Eye Institute. Dr GN Rao, founder of the institute said, the link between management and leadership in healthcare system is critical for the country. Management of health centres needs to be improved in India if access to health is to be improved.
Lack of access to health insurance has been a major loophole in the healthcare system. There is estimated 2 per cent penetration of health insurance in India. Preventive healthcare is negligible in the country and health insurance can be an effective tool to achieve it, said, Ratan Jalan, CEO, Apollo Health and Lifestyle.
Ajay G Piramal, chairman of Nicholas Piramal India, stressed the need for increased emphasis on innovation in the pharmaceuticals industry.
In a panel discussion moderated by Utkarsh Palnitkar, partner, Ernst & Young, industry leaders and experts including Dr Varaprasad Reddy, founder and MD, Shantha Biotechnics; Ranga Iyer, MD, Wyeth; Nilesh Gupta, president-Advanced Markets, Lupin Pharma; Sandeep Sahney, executive vice president, Dr Reddy's Laboratories discussed on India going global. They all agreed that the Indian pharma companies are increasingly foraying overseas markets particularly the Europe, US and the CIS region. Several global R&D partnerships have also been established with Indian companies. Few pointed if regulations improve further, it can facilitate exports and overall operations of Indian firms. The VC funding though growing in pharmaceuticals yet needs attention on biologicals.
M R Rao, dean, ISB, hinted the growing interest of doctors to pursue ISB programmes. Year on year and the School is planning to establish an exclusive healthcare centre in the near future on lines of Wadhwani Centre for entrepreneurship, which is already functional.
Dr V Biju Mohandas, president, Healthcare Club, Indian School of Business, said, pharma industry has a significant role to play in saving lives of people and offer equitable healthcare delivery.