The pharma and biopharma sectors needs to develop an innovation driven ecosystem to sustain the demand growth. This can be achieved through a strong industry-academia and industry-industry collaborations. The issue was discussed during a panel discussion titled “Challenges in building innovation engine in Pharma and Biopharma Sector’ yesterday at BioAsia 2022.

Moderated by Dr. Uday Saxena, Co-founder and CEO, ReaGene Innovations, the session witnessed an indepth discussion by panelists: Dr Ashwin Nangia, Professor, University of Hyderabad; Dr Satakarni Makkapati, President and Head, Biologics, Aurobindo Pharma; Dr Vinay Nandicoori, Director, CSIR, CCMB; Dr Gagandeep Kang, CMC Vellore and Dr Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO, Tata Medical and Diagnostics.

Nangia opined that the industry should focus on low hanging fruits which require a short time frame. There has been a new category called the supramolecular complexes in the last five years and this can help in speeding up the processes of new drug development, he informed. We should move away from trade batch manufacturing to flow chemistry and this will help overcome some of the challenges in quality, he said.

Makkapati said that companies need to work in some areas to improve innovation. There need to have risk appetite as research in bio-pharma entails huge investment and risk and risk money should be made available. Moreover, the regulatory landscape should be made more accommodative and India should follow the example of USFDA and MHRA in adapting to change. Also, biopharma needs deep pockets and mid-sized companies should collaborate with companies in the west to reduce risk in India as it’s not possible to do everything inhouse. Finally, there is a resource gap in terms of trained manpower, Makkapati highlighted.

Nandicoori said that everything starts from the lab and collaborative teams are the way out. Biopharma needs a long term approach and one has to be ready as some attempts will fail, he suggested. He also said that there should be external teams that should monitor the results and take calls accordingly.

Kang spoke about the need to invest in people and also the quality of people. Industry needs to build CMC capacity, especially in new products. She pointed out that there is a brain drain and the Indian pharma industry is not attracting the best of talent as there are opportunities in other spheres as well. Kang added that the regulatory science should be forward-looking and not fit for purpose only for today and what gets approved in India should get approved in the USA at the same time and this needs a complete rethink on our regulatory framework.

Krishnamurthy said that innovation should either big impact or disruptive. He explained that historically the eco-system plays a role in innovation and India is in a nascent stage in innovation. Academia should have a risk-taking approach if they have to succeed in innovation. We should move away from only incremental research to path breaking ones in order to compete in the global market, Krishnamurthy said.