New Delhi: The government has sought expressions of interest (EoI) for research & development (R&D) projects to develop novel technologies in medicine, including medical devices and drugs for communicable and non-communicable diseases.
The focus will be on drug discovery for hypertension, lung disease, cancer, diabetes and rare diseases. The EoIs have been floated by the department of pharmaceuticals, under the ministry of chemical and fertilizers for its scheme called Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma MedTech Sector (PRIP).
PRIP aims to transform India into a global powerhouse for R&D in the pharma and MedTech sector, with a total financial outlay of ₹5,000 crore – made up of two components.
The first component, with an outlay of ₹700 crore, aims to set up Centres of Excellence (CoEs) at seven National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs). This will focus on anti-viral and anti- bacterial drug discovery and development, medical devices, bulk drugs, phyto-pharmaceuticals, biological therapeutics etc. The government has already set up CoEs at all the NIPERs and work has already begun.
The second component with ₹4,250 crore aims to accelerate investments in the R&D ecosystem.
Under this component, the government will finance companies focused on doing R&D in priority areas, including drug discovery & development, medical devices, stem cell therapy, and treatment of drug-resistant patients.
Amit Agrawal, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals said, “All funds will go the industry alone, but industry can also come along in partnership with academia. The government will financial assistance to the firms to promote R&D. India has a strong hold in complex generics and biosimilars segment; however, the country needs to have a great focus in areas like new biological and chemical, entity, organ drugs, precision medicine, drug development for anti-microbial resistance.”
Currently Indian constitutes 3.4% market share of the global pharma industry. If the industry adopts a business-as-usual approach, the market value would grow to around $108 billion by 2030 at 11% CAGR, according to the government.
The Indian pharma industry has largely remained confined to generic drugs where it holds global leadership. But the total amount spent on pharma R&D in India is only around $3-5 billion per year, compared with $50-60 billion in the US and $15-20 billion in China.
As planned under the scheme, the bigger companies can seek funding of upto ₹125 crore while startups can secure funding of ₹1 crore, over a period of five years, based on their milestones.
Agarwal said, “Right now, we are not pre-judging it. We will follow a very rational approach like what the Department of Biotechnology follows. We will look at the public health value proposition, prospects of success and impact and will be evaluated on multiple parameters. This EoI will give us a sense of understanding of what is in the mind of the industry and how actively people are participating in it. In the coming days, we will be holding meetings with other government departments and industry stakeholders to discuss it the functionalities of the scheme.”
“The final date for submission of EoI responses is 7 April, while the application process will be initiated at the end of April or early May,” he said.
India’s pharmaceutical market for FY 2023-24 is valued at $50 billion with domestic consumption valued at $23.5 billion and exports at $26.5 billion. It is the world’s third largest by volume and 14th in terms of value. More than half of the exports are to markets under stringent regulations such as the US, EU and Japan etc.
However, there is a need to increase the R&D expenditure in the country by further promoting research and innovation, experts said. There is an urgent need to shift the focus to new areas where the future trajectory of the pharmaceutical industry lies.
Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator- AiMeD – Association of Indian Medical Device Industry, said “The government has given very little weightage to the medical device industry and is largely focused on pharmaceutical sector. We will discuss the matter with the government and seek amendments.”
“It is a very good initiative to take the pharma industry to the next level as research is the next big task that needs to be done. Industry is fully prepared to participate in the scheme,” Sudarshan Jain, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.
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