The government has provided assistance to the life sciences sector in increasing R&D, which is critical for the future. It is critical to grow the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. India has been a major importer of bulk drugs, but it needs to encourage indigenous drug development.
According to Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, the government is pushing for a production-linked incentive scheme and is encouraging the manufacture of medical devices.
“We have made significant structural changes in clinical trials and regulatory processes.” However, in a crisis, we may need to be far more radical in streamlining processes through digitization and transparency in the application approval process. The government must also incentivize biopharma research to help India transition from a low-volume, high-value player to a high-volume, high-value player,” he said during a panel session on the first day of BioAsia titled “Two Years into the Pandemic – Challenges, Successes, and What Next?“
The government is also looking into ways to strengthen the research and development system and encourage more industry-academic collaboration. Our scientific community needs to encourage innovation, global collaboration, and knowledge sharing.
“We must consider research in emerging areas such as complex generics, biosimilars, orphan drugs, and so on,” he added. To achieve unprecedented scale synergies and become a global player, we must integrate more deeply with the global supply chain. The future will be focused on personalised care and rapid delivery through real-time data and analytics, as well as rapid response.”
“There is a new confidence in the government’s effectiveness in the life science sector,” said Dr. Rajesh S Gokhale, secretary, Government of India’s Department of Biotechnology. In contrast to the IT industry, the life science industry requires a supporting system to evolve and grow in a healthy manner.”
Gokhale also mentioned the DBT’s important role in the diagnostic sector’s self-sufficiency, noting that the DBT very early on started funding startups, which came in very handy by enabling the manufacture of a large number of kits and, more importantly, do genome sequencing and tracking every variant.
All of this has been made possible by the department’s years of investment in Human Resource Development, as well as the establishment of a variety of infrastructure and institutions that can be used when they are most needed.