Pharma vision 2020

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest and most advanced, and one of the better recognized industries among the developing countries.

The Indian Pharmaceutical industry is worth $US 4 billion retail sales in domestic market in addition to US$2.6 billion in exports. The export growth is mainly due to export of new molecules especially to regulated markets outside of the country, in developed nations. However, through molecule exports only developed countries are being helped financially.

India is reported to rank 4th in the world accounting for 8% of world’s drug production by volume and 1.5% by value. It ranks 17th in terms of export value of bulk actives and dosage forms. Indian exports are sent to more than 200 countries around the globe including highly regulated markets of US, Europe, Japan and Australia.*

With the excellent infrastructure and production setup, the prices of Indian medicines are also among the lowest in the world. New R&D set ups with excellent infrastructure are coming up in various regions of the country with the help of government policy initiatives which provide fiscal support. Compared to the reported average R&D spend of 2% of turnover in the sector, a few leading Indian Pharma companies have increased their R&D spending to over 5% of their turnover which is a very commendable achievement.
The pharma equipment industry in India is not only very well established and modernized but is also cost competitive in comparison to comparable equipment from a number of developed countries.

In order to provide cost effective drugs, it is very important to develop indigenous methods of drug synthesis which can also help improve export value of the aforementioned drugs.

Site specific methods of drug synthesis which also have the desired bioavailability have been made possible by developments in biotechnology and molecular biology. Gene therapy and stem cell research have made it possible for implausible discoveries and methods of combating previously life-threatening diseases.

Bio-informatics, proteomics, human genomics have enabled us to bring forward and utilize substantial information to further unravel the human genome. All of these different disciplines in combination with pharmacy can be prove to have a synergistic effect on the discoveries in epidemiology and related fields.

The HIV (AIDS) virus has proven time and again to be the deadliest among all viruses and research continues in the hope of evolving a drug against it. Intensive studies have shown that the AIDS virus, prevalent in India, is of a different strain from that which affects the West and Africa. Therefore, the urgency to evolve our own drugs and vaccines is greatest right now.

“If you want to be incrementally better: Be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better: Be cooperative.” is one of my favourite quotes.

It is highly important for all the members of the entire pharmacy community, irrespective of the branch they belong to, to come together as a whole and make it the single largest dynamic profession in the years to come i.e. for exponential growth to occur. As a number of disciplines exist in pharmacy, there is a constant struggle among all of the disciplines to outdo the other and in this process the very noble purpose of the profession, of public or community care is lost. It is imperative that we come forward and amalgamate with each other to make this community a very vibrant, self-motivated and respectable one in India on par with the doctors.

If the Pharma vision 2020 is to be evolved, it is essential to identify such missions which will make drug production by India first in the world with a target of 20% in total value of production in the world.

* Statistics have been taken from the address at the inauguration of The Charter for Pharma Vision 2020 at Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute Porur, Chennai, 17 December 2003 by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam.