shut down and very few of the large pharmaceutical companies today maintain significant investments in new product development . While some of the leading ventures such as Stempeutics and Sathguru ’ s client Tergene Biotech have been successful in partnering with large pharmaceutical companies to advance their innovation , this is not an easy option for most ventures to pursue . To build a holistic innovation ecosystem and to advance India ’ s bioscience industry into the next sphere of innovation led growth , it is critical that larger Indian companies with financial muscle develop greater appetite for innovation adoption in their own product pipelines .
Industry engagement in innovation advancement is also intrinsically linked with market creation . While we dwell on means to encourage large Indian companies to engage more intensely in novel product development , we also ought to ensure that the market structures evolve to adopt and reward innovation . Healthcare access and innovation adoption need not be contradictory objectives and can be simultaneously accomplished . Price controls stifle innovation and significant strategic thinking is required around means to ensure that market reward mechanisms evolve in India ’ s growing healthcare market while ensuring parity in healthcare access .
Creating a pro-IP environment and global recognition for India ’ s innovation engagement
Controversial IP decisions in the recent past have tarnished the country ’ s reputation on respect for IP . We now deal with a strong perception issue that India is not pro-IP . There were two significant IP decisions that led to this problem . While Section 3 ( d ) and the Glivec case is a debatable issue and not a case of lack of respect for IP , there was limited to no communication from the country
clarifying our stand while the company hurt by the decision went on a global PR spree . On the other hand , the second IP issue of compulsory licensing has been truly detrimental to the IP environment . It presents another angle to the problem of facilitating equitable access while not stifling innovation incentive . IP creation efforts of companies like Glenmark and Zydus Cadila have been submerged under this heavy debate surrounding the controversial decisions . India needs to urgently foster a pro-IP environment as well as develop global recognition for being a country that creates and respects Intellectual Property . Today , Curadev stands out as one of the only current generation ventures that has out-licensed to a global major like Roche . If we need to create a wave of such success stories , as a country we need to address the IP ecosystem and perception issues that are saddled on IP creating entities in India across young ventures and large companies .
Raising the bar on innovation and thinking global
Finally , with the current foundation of success in building momentum in biotech entrepreneurship , it is now time to raise the bar on the level of innovation engagement that Indian ventures are pursuing . The level of scientific innovation and new IP creation in most of the current breed of ventures is medium and only few have engaged in very high risk efforts on novel drug discovery and development . The inspiration in India for NCE and NBE development has been limited since most of the large Indian companies have been focused on incremental innovation over their generics portfolio . As an industry , our innovation thinking now needs to be globally inspired and globally benchmarked so that it can be globally valued . To seek our spot in the world ’ s bioscience innovation landscape , it is optimal time to make the leap into wider engagement in novel drug discovery and development and deliver solutions not only to India but to the entire world .
We are entering exciting times and have gained the attention of the world with articulate and forward looking leadership in the country . To achieve the bioscience industry ’ s growth potential in the next decade and gain sustainable competitive advantage , we will have to innovate-in-India to Make-in- India for India and the world . The entrepreneurial field for biosciences has been ploughed with a lot of hard work . If we can tend to it with care and address issues pertinent to scale up and commercial success , we can chart an enviable growth story .
PUSHPA VIJAYRAGHAVAN
Vice President of Sathguru Management Consultants and is based out of Sathguru ’ s Boston office . She primarily focuses on life sciences and advises enterprises , academia , and venture capitalists on advancing innovation and leveraging opportunities in India and other countries in South Asia .
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