On day two of the 7th International Conference on Pharma and medical device sector, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, S. Aparna and Union Health secretary, Rajesh Bhushan chaired a panel discussion with the Pharmaceuticals industry CEOs in the presence of  Anurag Jain, Secretary, DPIIT on the theme 'Indian Pharma Vision 2047'

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, S Aparna highlighted that India has the triple advantage of cost, quality and scale in the pharma sector and this needs to be ramped up. She further added that India has built up a reputation for being able to deliver good quality generic medicines at a high production scale and at affordable prices. It is a matter of great pride that we are able to fulfil 50 per cent of the demand in many of the low-income economies as well as in the advanced market by supplying good quality generic medicines on a regular basis. As we march ahead and aspire to be a global pharma leader by 2047, differentiation based on innovation will be the key to achieving this pious objective, she added.

She further stated that in order to keep pace with the changing trends in the pharma and health sector, skills like agility, ability to overcome redundancy and creativity at every level would be paramount. “There are three strands which we should focus on: regulatory framework, research framework along with the resources including fiscal and talent,” she added.

Highlighting the importance of stakeholder collaboration she exhorted “Collaboration between large companies and start-ups, industry and academia collaboration by making public research more accessible and collaboration across sectors including the drug, devices sector along with the digital sector will be the main pillar of growth in the years to come”. Enumerating on the vision Pharma 2047, she highlighted the following objectives, vision and roadmap of the Ministry:

A global leader in the manufacturing of affordable, innovative & quality pharmaceuticals & medical devices for the goal of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.

‘Vishwaguru’in innovation & Research for delivering health care products to future generations in a sustainable manner, introducing natural products.

Ensure accessibility & affordability of patient-centric products for better healthcare outcomes for universal health coverage, by building upon partnerships across industry, science and governments.

Contribute to Health System to attain union of equity, efficacy, and efficiency towards developing holistic products profile, with focus on NCDs, AMR, and rare & neglected diseases.

Create equilibrium between social, economic, & governance aspects through facilitative, balanced & progressive policy and regulatory framework.

Reduce India’s carbon footprint in Pharma-MedTech to align with Hon’ble PMs vision of “Panchamrita”

Identifying critical suppliers, de-risking & decarbonising the supply chain, and promoting local sourcing.

Medical Devices to be an integral part of global supply chains for raw material, components, spare parts, assemblies/subassemblies etc,.

Digitization and technology upgradation in delivery of services & products under Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.

Speaking on the Occasion, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, “The paradigm of health has shifted from health to wellness to well-being in the last eight years. Health is not limited to what happens in a hospital or between a patient & pharmacy; health is much more than that.” It is important to realize how our country will look demographically by 2047. We will witness the bulging of the population pyramid which would mean that our youth will be dominant and elder people will enjoy a good quality of life. However, issues relating to geriatric health and medicines, mental health and other NCDs will become important. Hence, we would need to ensure focused research on equity and access to drugs and diagnostics in the years to come, he added.

Addressing the event, Anurag Jain, Secretary, DPIIT said that apart from Make in India, we should also focus on discover in India, innovate in India and then Make in India. This is especially critical for the pharma sector. He further added that Intellectual Property is an extremely important area for the Pharma sector and we as a part of the Government are committed to playing a facilitative role for the sector. Considering the importance of the Pharma sector for India’s economic growth, it was also accorded the Sunrise sector status in the budget, he added