Covid-19 pandemic has brought healthcare into sharp focus globally, be it medical technologies, life-saving drugs or vaccines and the Indian pharmaceutical sector rose to the occasion to tackle the challenge by employing 3 million people and generating US $ 13 billion trade surplus, pharma is a key driver of India's economic growth says Narendra Modi inaugurating the first Global Innovation Summit - 2021 of the Pharmaceuticals sector.

"The combination of high quality and quantity with affordability generated interest globally as a result, India exported life-saving drugs to 150 countries during the initial phase of the pandemic itself. We have exported 65 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to more than 190 countries. As we ramp up our production capacity, we will do much more in the coming days,” says Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.

"It is the time to reimagine our healthcare, its speed, scale, and willingness to innovate. The spirit of innovation has led to India being a major exporter of PPE. I invite everyone to Ideate in India, Innovate in India, and Make in India and Make for the World. We have the talent, resources, and the ecosystem required for innovation and enterprise. Our rapid strides, our speed of innovation and the scale of our achievements in the pharma sector have been noticed by the world. This is the best time to move forward and scale new heights. I assure global and domestic industry leaders and stakeholders that India is committed to enhancing the ecosystem for innovation. May this summit serve as the flagship event to strengthen the Indian pharmaceutical industry’s position in R&D and innovation,” added Narendra Modi.

Samir Mehta, President, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance said, “With a thriving innovation ecosystem, India is all set to play an even bigger role in world drug security. We at IPA have been playing an important role in addressing the needs of the country. This summit is a pathbreaking one as we look at different dimensions and approaches to create an innovation ecosystem in India. The event has brought together different stakeholder groups including government, industry, academia, investors, and researchers to discuss and strategize priorities to foster a thriving innovation ecosystem that will enable the Indian pharmaceutical industry to further consolidate its position as a global leader and become an innovation hub for the world.”

"The Indian pharmaceutical industry has been at the forefront for over a century now making a difference in people’s lives. During the pandemic, the Indian pharma industry rose to the challenge and ensured critical supply of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines to the people of India. We have several strengths to leverage and are poised to take a big leap in innovation as it looks to evolve beyond its successful journey of ‘Make in India’ towards the vision of ‘Discover in India’. The Indian pharma industry aspires to grow to US $120-130 billion from the current value of US $ 44 billion over the next decade, increasing its contribution to GDP by 100 basis points,” said Pankaj Patel, Chairman, Cadila Healthcare.

The first day of the digital summit also featured special addresses on policy thrust for innovation by S. Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals who spoke about the need to promote Indian pharmaceuticals globally for better access to quality and affordability.

“There is a need for increased attention to R&D and innovation which accounts for two-thirds of global opportunity. The Department of Pharmaceuticals has just released the draft discussion paper on policy to catalyze the sector. This policy hopefully will address all the aspects to drive innovation growth. We must come up with global quality products and work towards ensuring regulations that favour innovation. There is a need for process optimization to reduce the compliance burden. Technology-based end to end use and operating a single interface between regulator and innovator is on the anvil. It will lead to well-managed workflows that will promote timeliness and predictability. The health ministry has already initiated the regulatory streamlining in this regard,” added Aparna.

Prof. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India highlighted how India has a unique opportunity to deliver in the global market by building excellence in global chains across the globe. "The synergy between industry and academia has been enhanced due to the #covid19 pandemic. It is now time to embed these interactions on a scale so that new developments and research can go hand in hand," said Raghavan.

Dr. Vinod Paul, member, NITI Aayog emphasized the need for fostering the innovation ecosystem and looking at multiple pathways to support research and development. “NITI Aayog is keen to create capacity in the area of clinical research and trials among the experts of the AYUSH medicine background, and also ensure scale and rigour in these kinds of studies. We are going to look at multiple pathways to support R&D and manufacturing through PLI schemes, megaparks and other initiatives," said Paul.

Attended by 2,500 participants from India and the world, the event witnessed a robust discussion on the approach to innovation in the pharma industry and ways to create a positive impact on health and healthcare. It covered discussions on creating an enabling regulatory landscape, funding support, linkages between academia and industry, and high quality infrastructure setup.