A sustained progress on research and development front seems to have prompted Gujarat-based pharmaceutical companies to explore business opportunities in UK.
This view was expressed by experts from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) at a seminar held here on Wednesday.
A trade seminar was jointly organised by UKTI, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) as well as Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) to assist state pharma companies explore business prospects in the UK.
"Gujarat has developed a strong academic base in the healthcare and R&D activity. This would help the life sciences sector to prosper in state. Currently, the most exciting area is bio-pharma sector, which has opened doors for Gujarat-based companies to expand operations in the UK. They would get access to a wide market through the publicly funded hospital facility under National Health Service (NHS)," said John Mowles, sector specialist (life sciences), UKTI.
Commenting about the regulatory compliance by the Gujarat-based pharma companies, Mowles further added that the companies are increasingly opting for registration with Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) - the UK drug regulator. Further, with production cost being one of the lowest in the world, state pharma companies are believed to have an advantage to reap heavy benefits in the overseas markets.
The trade relations between India and UK have strengthened over the past few years and in the past one year alone, the Indian investments in UK have reached to a new high.
"The trade relations have improved over the years and we are looking at promising future ahead. Also, on the academic front, UK is open for taking Indian students for academic programs including advanced research. Similarly, the number of British students coming to India is also on the rise," said Andrew Jackson, counsellor, British High Commission - New Delhi.
A recent report, UK Inward Investment Report 2010-2011 issued on July 11 mentioned that number of projects by Indian companies in the UK have jumped from 92 in the previous year to 97 in 2010-2011 (April-March), making India the third largest investor in UK preceded by the US and Japan with 388 and 105 projects respectively. Similarly, UK investments in India in the form of FDI too are reported to have risen over the years.
In the healthcare sector, some of the leading Gujarat-based companies have made investments in the UK. These include Intas Pharmaceuticals, Torrent Pharma, Zydus Cadila and Dishman among others. According to UKTI officials, last year Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharma had invested in a project in UK. The seminar was followed by a business-to-business (B2B) meeting with some of the leading pharma companies in Gujarat. As many as 17 companies having operations in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology had expressed their interest to participate in the B2B meetings.
