Indian pharmaceutical companies are ready to take advantage of the new product patent regime, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said today.Delivering the keynote address at the Royal Institute of International Affiars, Chatham House, London, Nath said, "Indian pharmaceutical industry was fully prepared to take advantage of the $50 billion worth of drugs going off-patents in the next five years after introduction of the new patent regime. We'll grab a major share of this," he said.Nath pointed out that India presented an ideal confluence of five factors - cost-effective manufacturing, well developed chemical industry infrastructure, strong vertical integration, abundant scientific talent and technical skills and unique synergy in the fields of IT, biotech and medicine."Time is, therefore, ripe for a quantum leap. Our objective is not only to manufcature drugs, but also to make India a hub for medical research and clinical data," he said.
