India pharma is now on an aggressive mode to tap the opportunities to garner revenues from the South East Asian region.

The growing patient pool, ageing population and advanced healthcare systems all make the region an attractive destination for newer drugs as well as for higher investments, said a section of pharma majors like Micro Labs, Biocon and Venus Remedies.

The eight South-East Asian markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam is projected to have a total pharmaceutical market value of US$ 69.1 billion at retail prices by 2016 and is seen to be the next big destination for the pharmaceutical industry, according to Pawan Chaudhary, chairman and managing director, Venus Remedies.

Pharma experts concur that encouraging governmental assistance, sophisticated facilities and strict regulations in countries like Singapore and Malaysia are the favourable factors for pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries growth in the South East Asia.

Specifically simplified investment regulations including the 10-year tax holiday, duty exemptions, dependable infrastructure, tailor-made incentives for big investments, free-trade agreements with nil restrictions on equity in the Association of South East Asian Nations(ASEAN) region have made the region especially Malaysia an attractive destination. The stringent regulatory framework in Singapore has seen the country attract considerable contract research and clinical research activities, noted the experts.

According to Gurudatta GG, chief executive officer, Estima Pharma Solutions, pharma in South East Asia has been engaged in the manufacture only for their domestic consumption. Now the companies in the region are aggressively building up the required expertise to entice global majors for contract manufacture orders.

“This region is now setting a new direction in growth in pharma outsourcing and is now scouting for competent consultants to trigger many global audits,” added Gurudatta.

"In general, the southeast pharmaceutical market has been steadily growing over the past decade. The generic drug industry is one avenue that is rapidly developing in this part of the world. Companies want to capitalize on this and are spending considerable time in developing strategies to exploit the full potential of the generic drug industry. This upward trend will definitely influence the pricing of drugs and make medicine more affordable. Many of the larger firms have managed to grow their market share through intensive competitive pricing,” pointed out Ariff Khan, president, manufacturing, Kemwell Biopharma.

“There is tremendous scope for growth. There are several opportunities in South East Asia which fit into our export strategy. The new regulations of doing business in the region, encouraging environment and market interest have been extremely gratifying,” said Archana Dubey Mitra, vice president, exports, Bal Pharma.