The Tamil Nadu branch of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) has informed the Department of Pharmaceuticals that the investment in innovative research and development (R&D ) for pharmaceutical products has to be stepped up considerably or else the majority of manufacturing companies cannot survive in future.

The low investments in R&D continues to be a major concern for the growth of the sector and several manufacturers become unable to compete with the multinationals for new drug discovery and commercialisation of molecules on a worldwide basis, commented J Jayaseelan, secretary of TN IPA.

He said that on the side of weakness on industrial growth, it is found that rapidly increasing cost of skilled manpower such as scientists, regulatory compliance personnel, pharmaceutical lawyers and international business development personnel are pushing up the cost of innovation.

He was presenting a study report on Indian pharmaceutical industry before an august assembly of industry leaders and officials from the Department of Pharmaceuticals including its secretary, in Chennai.

Jayaseelan wanted the Central government to explore all opportunities for exports. Quoting Assocham estimates, he said Indian pharma industry will have opportunity for additional export of US$ 19.5 billion in the near future because drugs worth $40 billion in the US and $25 billion worth drugs in Europe are expected to go off-patent soon.

He further said, although India is the largest producer of medicines by volume in the world and continues to be one of the largest exporters, two-third of the country’s population still lacks access to essential drugs. Tourists from different parts of the world visit India  because it has high standard of medical skills and expertise. A large number of doctors working in several countries are from India. However, majority of the Indian population has limited access to high quality healthcare.

The country produces the largest number of doctors among the developing world and it has the credit for having the largest number of medical colleges in the world. The country is considered as a desirable destination for off shoring of data management functions for clinical trials and it has the strong IT skills for clinical data management.