A few days ago, while surfing the internet for some industry news, I happened to come across a report that quoted Subodh Priolkar, president, 63rd IPC, and regional MD, Colorcon Asia, saying that India has every chance to capitalise on the opportunity to become a pharmaceutical superpower by 2020. The report went on to say that the pharmaceutical market in India is expected to touch $74 billion in sales by 2020 from the current $11 billion, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report.
I felt vindicated because it has long been my belief that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is well positioned to match and even surpass countries like Switzerland in the 21st century as a global centre for inventions, development and commercialisation. I foresee a time when the ?Made in India? brand will signify therapeutics from the leading edge of biomedical innovation, deliver the highest standards of quality and sustainability, and be accessible enough to meet the needs of patients and societies at a scale unprecedented in the history of medicine.
This is not wishful thinking either on my part. India leads today as the world?s largest and most developed pharmaceutical industry. While the domestic pharmaceutical market grew 21.9%, recording sales of R5,369 crore ($1.01 billion) in March 2012, the drugs and pharmaceuticals sector attracted foreign direct investment worth $9,173.50 million between April 2000 to February 2012. There is more. India tops the world in the export of generic medicines. Additionally, multinational drug companies, including global majors like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis, are showing a healthy growth in a predominantly generic Indian medicine market.
India, therefore, is poised to become a hub for all pharmaceutical manufacturing and research needs, including healthcare devices, as societies around the world seek cutting-edge pharmaceuticals to treat their most challenging illnesses and high-quality generics for better-understood conditions. India has nearly all the strategic assets necessary to build a competitive, innovation-driven pharmaceutical industry uniquely adapted to this global need in the form of a highly-skilled knowledge workforce with a large and growing base of life-science PhDs, a robust physical infrastructure, with more than 120 USFDA-approved research facilities, and an unprecedented access to global markets.
However, while the government has been extending unprecedented support as demonstrated by the Union Budget 2012, the Strategy Plan for exports which is on the anvil, the initiatives taken by the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council in the area of joint ventures, and continuation of the 100% FDI regime in the sector, our new drug development initiatives still lag behind several WTO member countries. Given the burgeoning scenario, it is puzzling as to why, on an average, Indian pharmaceutical companies invest only about 2% of their total turnover on research and development. In a recent development, the pharmaceutical industry has asked the government to bring down taxes and duties on life-saving drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients as an incentive to increased spending in R&D. Topping it all, the Pharma Vision 2020, envisaged by the pharmaceuticals department, promises to make India a leading destination for end-to-end drug discovery and innovation.
In such a dynamic environment, income generated by patented pharmaceutical products supports industry-sponsored research in new therapies. When patents ultimately expire, high-quality generics help lower the overall cost of healthcare and improve access in a virtuous circle of inventions, development, commercialisation and loss of market exclusivity.
It is clear that India has almost everything it takes to master this virtuous circle. All we lack is a well thought out and rational national IPR policy. Clarity, especially on patent law and its enforcement, is essential to secure the future of Indian intellectual property and the viability of the growing pharmaceutical industry in our country. We should not sacrifice the first-class healthcare system for our country by limiting our pharmaceutical industry merely to supplying other nations? demand for low-cost generics.
The author is CEO Vision-IPR and MHRD IPR Chair professor, Tezpur University, Assam
