Adversity brings opportunities, says Arjun Juneja, Chief Operating Officer, Mankind Pharma who believes that when things are uncomfortable, one has to think out of the box to survive. 

Juneja said, “That’s the story of Mankind. For the last 25 years, it is the creativity that has kept us going and the COVID-19 has brought out the best. Initially, nobody was sure what would happen next. Manufacturing plants were shut and doctors had stopped consultation. Medical representatives weren’t able to contact doctors. Supply chain was a big issue but we worked as an industry. Companies set up calls with each other, collaborations have been the key learning. Industry came together and even government and local authorities were constantly talking to companies.” 

Juneja spoke along with the other top young guns of the pharmaceutical industry at the virtual event, 'ET Prime Talk: Redefining Indian Pharma: through the lens of young leaders’. The discussion revealed how the focus on research and development and digitalization across verticals remains high on the radar of Indian industry. 

As per Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Zydus Cadila, industry has imbibed new learnings during the period of uncertainty. “Keeping plants open and working with stakeholders, starting with good guidelines to manage at a short notice was a challenge that we have endured successfully. As an industry, we scaled up to 30 times. We took a huge risk worth thousands of crores of rupees but at the top priority was to ensure affordability and accessibility for millions. of patients.” 

“In the developed world, the Pharma industry has been receiving government support for research and development. While India is gradually heading towards that direction, we as industry and other stakeholders have to form partnerships,” says Aman Mehta, Chief Marketing Officer, Torrent Pharma. “Having been in operations since the last 50 years, our culture has been to create access to patients. The ball has been rolling like this for several years as we have been building on the experiences. The current pandemic has made us think even better.” 

The roller coaster ride during the pandemic has taken Indian pharmaceutical industry through a lot of bitter sweet experiences. The quick ramping up of select medicines within no time, working beyond timelines despite resource crunch and partnering even with rival companies are just a few examples. 

Namita Thapar, Executive Director, Emcure Pharmaceuticals too highlights the fact that it were pharma companies that took the huge risk of manufacturing drugs at a quick pace and conducting trials in adverse conditions. “Companies have invested money and resources, from trials to manufacturing. “We did the Phase I trials of our vaccine and it was very difficult, full of risk, money and time consuming process. Since we are heading into the 2nd phase shortly, what we are looking for is the support and understanding of the government and investors.” 

Embracing change

Indian pharma industry is ready to erupt, says Juneja as he puts onus on newer therapy areas and re-purposing of the products. “The areas such as plasma therapy, monoclonal antibodies (MABs), and bacteria based biosimilars are expected to witness a lot of innovation. At the same time, innovation is not required just in research but technology, digitalization, supply chain, and marketing.”

Mehta agrees with him but believes that generics has to be core with further transition to research. “Industry has been doing research for other markets but now it must be research for India,” he says while also pointing out that India doesn’t have the best environment to bring out innovative technologies. “Doing clinical trials is not easy here. While things are changing, it will take a while for that to happen. Meanwhile, we have to increase our investments into research. Everyone has hunger towards drug discovery. We at Torrent are also making sure that we move to drug discovery.” 

Expressing her appreciation for the process driven system, Thapar calls for use of data analytics across sales, supply chain, marketing, and R&D for better decision making. “For managing the supply chain, PharmaTrack is one of the measures for companies to equip themselves with data to make decisions and eliminate the wastage.”

Patel believes there is a lot of room for growth if right partnerships are stuck between academia and industry. Calling for support, he says, “There was a time when we were the proponents of clinical trials in India but then I got disheartened due to challenges. The trials abroad happen without much hassle. Today everybody is looking at R&D as an expense but it takes 10-12 years to develop a molecule. We need to create an ecosystem with involvement of all stakeholders as it is not possible for only a handful of pharma companies to do everything.”