Government steps up efforts to drive innovation in pharmaceutical sector

The government has begun stakeholder consultations to identify 'moonshot' projects and role of industry as it plans to roll out its latest budget proposal to promote research and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector to be taken up through centres of excellence. "We are in the process of identifying seven centres of excellence (CoE) which will undertake research in moonshot areas," N Yuvaraj, joint secretary, department of pharmaceuticals, to ET.

Yuvaraj said the CoEs will be government institutions like National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs), India Institute of Technologies (IITs), and other public universities.

"We will finalise the moonshot projects, and the quantum of investment required by March end in consultation with the stakeholders; the programme will be rolled out two-three months thereafter," Yuvaraj said.

"The government will be investing in these projects, along with the private sector participation," he added.

Yuvaraj said the industry response has been encouraging so far. An industry person said some of the moonshot research projects will be specific to India requirements like precision medicine, infectious diseases, chronic disease management, artificial intelligence, among others.

Finance minister Nirmal Sitharaman in her latest budget announced a new programme to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals, which will be taken up through centers of excellence. "We shall also encourage industry to invest in research and development in specific priority areas," Sitharaman said.

In addition to CoE, the government also made proposals in the budget to support faculty from medical colleges and R&D teams from the industry; access is being granted to facilities at select laboratories that are run by the Indian Council of Medical Research where they can undertake research activities

The Indian pharmaceutical industry, which is a powerhouse of generic pharmaceuticals, is still to establish itself as an innovator. The industry, especially large Indian pharmaceutical companies, are trying to move up the value chain from copycat drugs to innovation driven products, but that transition hasn't been easy, due to lack of drug discovery ecosystem in the country that includes strong academic research, risk funding, robust intellectual property regime, and lack of success stories, among others.

Meanwhile, China, which has started late, has made a huge headway, by investing in research, reforming its regulatory systems, establishing bioclusters and tapping the talent returning from overseas. Indian industry has been asking for tax rebates on investments in R&D, and urging the government to take steps to actively foster innovation through strengthening research in the public academic institutions.