KTR bats for more incentives for private sector

Speaking at the CEO Conclave Panel Discussion on 'Future growth driver: What’s next for India? as part of the BioAsia 2023 conclave, the Minister said also stressed on further decentralization of regulatory affairs

Hyderabad: Stating that India was a price sensitive country and there was tremendous pressure on companies to launch low priced drugs, Industries Minister KT Rama Rao stressed on the need to extend incentives from the governments.

In the United States and western countries, lot of emphasis was laid on research and development and innovation. If the same focus has to continue in India, the government should practice incentivising the private sector rigorously as there was no reward for Indian entrepreneurs to continue research extensively, he said.

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Speaking at the CEO Conclave Panel Discussion on ‘Future growth driver: What’s next for India? as part of the BioAsia 2023 conclave here on Friday, the Minister said also stressed on further decentralization of regulatory affairs.

Among the 28 states in the country, only three to four States were predominantly involved in production and other aspects. The Central Government along with these three to four States can work out a better model for revamping the regulatory affairs and accord faster approvals, he suggested.

Jubilant Bhartia Group Co-chairman and founder Hari S Bhartia said in the United States clincial trials were approved in about 30 days but in India it takes lot of time. To capitalise on the growing opportunity in the pharma sector, India needs to discover drugs for Indian market as was done by China, he said. Echoing a similar opinion, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals MD and CEO Glenn Saidanha said China promoted local production on a large scale. To scale up this trend, there has to be some reimbursement model in India, he suggested.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Chairman Satish Reddy said post Covid, there was lot of focus on health and wellness. Considering the current operations, the pharma sector was projected to grow at double digit in India and to support this trend, there has to be a revamp of regulatory affairs, he said.

On the milestones India could achieve in the next decade, especially in the health and pharma sectors, Nandini Pirmal of Piramal Group predicted more spending on development of health infra and pharmaceuticals sectors. Biological E Limited Managing Director Mahima Datla said the key milestones would be access to necessary drugs in addition to the regular immunization.