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The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA)'s recent report on ‘Vision 2030’, which provides a roadmap for the Indian pharmaceutical industry to grow from US$ 38 billion to US$ 120-130 billion by 2030, states that the government can be a key enabler to achieve this aspiration through seven strategic interventions. IPA represents 23 research based national pharmaceutical companies.
The IPA report says that the government should accelerate universal healthcare access by strengthening the healthcare infrastructure and using digital technologies. The government could increase expenditure on healthcare from about 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent by 2025 and to 5 per cent of GDP by 2030, in line with the other developed economies in Europe and North America. Besides, the government should encourage investments by ensuring a stable pricing policy and supportive regulatory environment.
The IPA report, which was prepared with research collaboration with McKinsey & Company and inputs from the IPA members and industry leaders, wanted the government to explore the creation of an independent ministry for pharmaceuticals consolidating the current set of pharma regulators (CDSCO and NPPA), to accelerate the development of the sector through accelerated decision making. Further, the report wanted the government to focus on API manufacturing to reduce the reliance on imports through plug-and-play infrastructural support in dedicated zones.
Other strategic interventions by the government include promote innovation by creating a research ecosystem that is supported through competitive tax breaks on R&D investments, technology transfers, etc. as well as targeted regulatory simplifications; and expand global footprint and collaborate with international regulatory bodies and increase participation in international forums such as the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention (PIC) to address key issues faced by Indian pharmaceutical companies in exports and to communicate the contributions of Indian generics to the global healthcare industry. The IPA report further states that the government can intervene by helping build ‘at-scale’ capability building programs to create an industry-academic collaboration to ready talent pool.
The report further says that some of the challenges impacting the Indian pharmaceutical industry include dependence on external markets for intermediates and APIs, lack of stable pricing policy environment, slow growth in innovation with limited government-supported research ecosystem, competitive environment in the US generics market and greater scrutiny from regulators.
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