UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) see that collaboration with Indian biotechnology companies is a cure for better health outcome. Experts from UK stated that an affordable innovation mode could  help address the burgeoning healthcare challenges of India.

At the session on ‘Making tomorrow’s medicines’, UKTI said that UK has the strongest overseas presence with more than 20 companies participating in the 16th edition of Bangalore India Bio. Efforts to making tomorrow’s medicines in India using UK capabilities is aligned to Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Make in India.

Healthcare and biotechnology companies should be focused on developing blockbuster drugs that benefit billions of patients. This could only be done through collaboration and innovation stated the UKTI panel

Speaking at the event, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson Vision Group on biotechnology and CMD, Biocon said that for making the medicines of tomorrow, the endeavour should be to leverage innovation to develop therapies which are affordable and accessible.

“As global priorities shift from providing exclusive and expensive drugs to more affordable drugs to enhance access to greater patient populations, we need to focus on developing blockbuster drugs with a potential to benefit a billion patients,” said Shaw.

“A developing country like India needs to invest in an affordable innovation model that can help address the burgeoning healthcare challenges of India, where 80 per cent of healthcare expenses are borne by the patients, in the absence of a universal healthcare program run by the Government,” she said.

“The UK, with its ecosystem of research institutes, innovative companies and a large scientific pool, has become an important destination for high-end innovation and research. As large numbers of Indian companies commit themselves to innovation, UK’s innovation ecosystem can provide learning opportunities for these companies to develop new competencies through collaborative research and alliances and join hands in their pursuit of addressing unmet medical needs,” she said.

The UK has the strongest overseas presence with more than 20 companies participating in the 16th edition of Bangalore India Bio. Deputy High Commissioner, Dominic McAllister, said the UK and India have built a legacy of collaboration in life sciences over recent years.

Our role within the British Deputy High Commission in Bengaluru is to not only strengthen existing links, but also to explore new ways of working together. The UK has a long track record of cost-effective and compliant medicines manufacturing from leading global companies. India has taken over from Italy as one of the leading supplier of manufacturing supply chains and is ideally positioned to be the hub of activity around Making Tomorrow’s Medicine.

Jon Mowles, UKTI Life Science Sector Specialist, who is leading the British delegation, said that the UK as a rich heritage of life science discovery that has transformed scientific knowledge and continues to unlock clinical and commercial opportunities for many countries, including India.