India’s bio-pharma start-ups are seen to have considerable momentum in the early phases of product and technology development but there is limited progress on a larger scale. Indian life science entrepreneurs need to adopt the risk taking outlook, noted Dr Bala S Manian, founder and director, ReaMatrix, a leading healthcare technology company based in US and India.

Despite extensive financial assistance coming in from BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council), DBT (Department of Biotechnology) among others, there is a means for an idea to be nurtured and  see it till the end of commercialisation. India is emerging as research hub for diagnostics that are qualified for use. But basic research is not getting the products into development primarily because economics and business strategy are missing, he said.

There are opportunities in India and globally for life sciences start ups to succeed and create a niche in the market. There are geographical boundaries, people skills with the ability to read markets. The early stage entrepreneurs need to comprehend that failure in a business model is not the end of a career but a beginning for promising opportunities. Although there is the capability in India, its entrepreneurs underestimate the adoption of an eco-system. The attention is more on the creation of a security in a business environment. So India needs a risk taking environment with its entrepreneurs to identify and  evaluating the uncertainties, said Dr Manian at a networking forum organised by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Bengaluru.

Indian scientific talent is employed in the US and the success of start-ups in the West is only because of the creation of an eco system. The uniqueness of Silicon Valley or the San Francisco Bay Area is the recruitment of right personnel and adoption of technology, Dr Manian told Pharmabiz at the sidelines of the forum.

“There is huge demand for cutting edge innovations and entrepreneurs of the western world want to leap frog. Now there is need for a community to drive a business idea which makes it evident that it is not about entrepreneurship but more the emergence of a sustainable eco-system,” he added.

There is need to focus on human capital more than financial assets. Pace of new technology is evolving and accelerating. Duration of technology life is declining. Boundaries between disciplines are becoming fuzzier. There are more opportunities to be mined at the convergence point of cross disciplines. Therefore, it is high time Indian life science entrepreneurs focus on market opportunities rather than specific technologies or methodology because it would be easier to shift when it does not work, pointed out Dr Manian.