Mumbai is beautiful this time of the year, offering a subtropical break from the winter weather in Europe and the northern U.S. Mumbai, India played host to the CPHI/PMEC/ICSE India 2010 Show and Conference the first week of December that was well attended, although traffic appeared to be somewhat less than 2009. I was told that there were 800 exhibitors and the expected attendance was 25,000. I would say both numbers were a bit optimistic.
Preceding the show was the one-day India Pharma Summit 2010 produced by the Government of India, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. This summit has become an annual event, designed to bring regulators and industry professionals together to share thoughts on the current state of the pharmaceutical industry in India and to offer vision for the future. This years' summit theme was “Affordability through Innovation in Drug Discovery, Clinical Research and Medical Devices.” The summit featured speakers from both the government regulatory agencies and industry companies.
Interestingly, one of the opening speakers began his presentation by indicating his disappointment with the turnout at this 2010 summit, compared to the 2009 event. My personal view is that this particular summit was more niche-oriented, rather than offering a broad industry-wide perspective, which probably appealed to a different audience from the previous year. Attendance was reported to be about 300.
The continuing discussion thread throughout the summit was that India has been considered as an outsourcing location for major pharmaceutical companies, but that new molecules are not developed in India. This means that India has become a low-cost center for generics and for clinical trials, but very little groundbreaking medical development is taking place in India. In order to grow as an industry, India's pharmaceutical industry needs to foster the development portion.
One of the interesting elements discussed at the conference was the need for more support from the government of India to the pharmaceutical industry. This support was solicited not only to provide a smoother regulatory path with shorter approval cycles, but also for direct government funding of programs to foster the growth of the industry.
A representative from McKinsey & Co., Inc. presented a detailed analysis of the current market conditions related to India's position in clinical research and development, both globally and locally. He highlighted the areas of growth opportunity for India and offered information on the levels of support provided to the pharmaceutical industry within other countries by their governments, pa
Preceding the show was the one-day India Pharma Summit 2010 produced by the Government of India, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. This summit has become an annual event, designed to bring regulators and industry professionals together to share thoughts on the current state of the pharmaceutical industry in India and to offer vision for the future. This years' summit theme was “Affordability through Innovation in Drug Discovery, Clinical Research and Medical Devices.” The summit featured speakers from both the government regulatory agencies and industry companies.
Interestingly, one of the opening speakers began his presentation by indicating his disappointment with the turnout at this 2010 summit, compared to the 2009 event. My personal view is that this particular summit was more niche-oriented, rather than offering a broad industry-wide perspective, which probably appealed to a different audience from the previous year. Attendance was reported to be about 300.
The continuing discussion thread throughout the summit was that India has been considered as an outsourcing location for major pharmaceutical companies, but that new molecules are not developed in India. This means that India has become a low-cost center for generics and for clinical trials, but very little groundbreaking medical development is taking place in India. In order to grow as an industry, India's pharmaceutical industry needs to foster the development portion.
One of the interesting elements discussed at the conference was the need for more support from the government of India to the pharmaceutical industry. This support was solicited not only to provide a smoother regulatory path with shorter approval cycles, but also for direct government funding of programs to foster the growth of the industry.
A representative from McKinsey & Co., Inc. presented a detailed analysis of the current market conditions related to India's position in clinical research and development, both globally and locally. He highlighted the areas of growth opportunity for India and offered information on the levels of support provided to the pharmaceutical industry within other countries by their governments, pa
