HQ Team
January 18, 2023: India is bolstering its regulatory bodies to global standards to become a world leader in drug discovery and innovative medical devices, a minister said.
India is “strengthening the regulatory framework to facilitate innovation and research in product development,” Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, said.
“Indian regulators are now working towards establishing global harmonization in this regard, with modifications in the regulatory provisions,” he said at a roundtable health in Davos, Switzerland.
A large share of global value, about 40% of a market of $6.65 trillion in the life sciences sector, lies in innovation-based products.
Unlock value
Promoting drug discovery and innovation “will unlock this value and will also enhance the industry’s contribution to the Indian economy, an additional $10-12 billion in exports every year, he said.
It will also create a large pool of jobs to enhance India’s differentiation vis-a-vis other developing economies.
“The increased spending on healthcare globally, the increase in the size of the Indian middle class,” and the government’s commitment to various schemes have created a sustained demand trajectory for pharma and med-tech sectors.
The Davos meeting aim was to establish an affordable and accessible life sciences ecosystem, identify the gaps in the life sciences industry, extend opportunities for knowledge exchange and encouragement of innovation in research and development.
Investment opportunities
It also focused on identifying investment opportunities to create a robust R&D and innovation ecosystem to increase the competitiveness of the life sciences industry.
The demand for better therapeutic outcomes, trends in personalized diagnostics, in-home treatment, wearables, and telemedicine have created scope for differentiated products and service offerings.
“India is now poised to take on the global arena and move from high-volume to high-value products,” Mandaviya said.
India will Incentivize investments in innovation through a mix of fiscal and non-fiscal measures, thereby matching risks with remunerative financing options, he said.
“We are looking at a range of interventions that would facilitate funding support for innovation, such as schemes to support investments into R&D innovation, reimbursement of R&D spending and designing appropriate fiscal incentives to promote R&D”, he stated.
High-value products
The South Asian nation will also create a facilitator ecosystem to support innovation and cross-sectoral research as a robust institutional mechanism for sustainable growth in the R&D and innovation sector.
India’s bio-pharmaceuticals sector has delivered a 5-year compound annual growth rate of 50%, he said.
“India is now poised to take on the global arena and move from high-volume to high-value products.”
