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India made a significant dent in the global pharmaceutical market and is known as the ‘pharmacy of the world’. India can achieve same feat in the biotech arena, especially vaccines. “The Indian pharmaceutical industry is currently valued at $ 22 billion, and is expected to touch $ 50 billion by the end of the decade. The Indian vaccine industry has also put us on the world map. We supply about 75-80 per cent of vaccines to the developing market,” said Dr Cyrus Karkaria, president, Lupin Biotech, during a biotechnology seminar on February 18, 2016 at the Make in India Week in Mumbai.
All this has helped India to emerge as a biotechnology player. The size of the Indian biotechnology industry has reached about $ 7 billion, driven by growing demand and increased R&D activities. “Generics, which is what we have been very good at, requires demonstration of safety and efficacy,” said Dr Karkaria. Hence regulations are important and call for lengthy clinical trials and significant investment across the value chain.
Proper standards are needed for good manufacturing and clinical practices. “To be able to become a biotechnology hub at the global level, India needs to ignite and take off to the next level,” commented Dr Karkaria. This can be achieved with innovation in research labs that create a compelling research environment, so that hi-tech solutions can be obtained in an affordable manner.
Speaking at the seminar, Dr M K Bhan, former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, said, “Make in India is about declaration of an attitude. Attitude is extremely important. It involves leadership with justice, dealing with fundamental contradictions and learning how to seize opportunities. Scale and quality is what Make in India is about.”
According to Dr Bhan, biotechnology is global. “We cannot do biotechnology in isolation. It is about intellectual property landscaping and collaborative networks. There is no need to shy away from attractive collaboration,” he added.
Raising concern about scale and productivity, Dr Bhan said, “The top layer of productivity is missing. Industry should recognise that all nations are progressing simultaneously. Agriculture offers phenomenal possibilities. Powerful technologies are available, but they concurrently need a public understanding of the science involved.”
