India’s Pharma Industry Expected To Reach US$55 Billion by 2020
A new study details how India’s exports of pharmaceuticals is predicted to rapidly expand in the coming decade, reaching US$25 billion by 2014 and US$55 billion by 2020.
The report, prepared by Cambridge Consultants, describes how the Indian drug industry currently produces over 10 per cent of the world’s medicines, and that there are over 20,000 Indian pharmaceutical companies employing in excess of 300,000 people.
The pharma sector in India revolves around the country being a major exporter of high-quality generic drugs and according to Ghulam Nabi Azzad, India’s Minister of Health and Family Welfare, the country is expecting to see the value of its drug exports double by the end of 2014.
It is considered that India’s pharma companies have fewer new generic opportunities because of declining numbers of US Federal Drug Agency new chemical entity filings and a peaking of expiring innovator patents. There is also plenty of competition from other emerging nations, such as China, and increasing threats from counterfeit medicines.
A pharma workshop held in Mumbai last week discussed how Indian pharmaceutical companies should focus on adopting innovative technologies and thinking strategically so that they stay competitive and continue to grow. Dr Cyrus Karkaria, president of the biotech division at Lupin Pharma India, said at the workshop: “Indian pharma companies must remain competitive and look to innovate and adopt technologies that can complement and accelerate the uptake of drugs for better health management”.
Andrew Barrett, director of medical technology in India at Cambridge Consultants, believes that in order to drive faster growth, and capitalise on their existing success, Indian pharmaceutical companies must now “aim to create true added-value offerings with ‘super-generics’, which can deliver additional benefits to patients. Innovation and technology are key, and the required investments can be recouped because medical products have long lifecycles. He notes that technology plays an important part in delivering medicines by extending lifecycles, adding value and providing for developing different products in a highly competitive industry.
The technologies that have been identified as being particularly beneficial for Indian pharma companies include injectable technologies to support a move into biologics, inhalation products, medical devices (which is seen as building upon formulation/chemistry expertise rather than developing specific knowledge in this area) and connected health (through connecting with India’s massive computer and software industries).
India is definitely in the driving seat when it comes to growth, so long as pharma innovates to adapt to market forces.