The government is considering bringing a policy to promote manufacturing of patented drugs in India, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday. Speaking at the curtain raiser press conference of the 7th International Conference on Pharma and Medical Device Sector 2022, Mandaviya said while the country has already established itself as the global manufacturing hub for generic medicines, there is a need to go beyond it and stamp its authority in patented drugs as well.
Today, India has the highest number of generic medicine manufacturing companies with more than 3,500 pharma firms and 10,500 manufacturing units, he said, adding one out of four pills consumed in the US is manufactured in India, while one out of five pills taken in the world is produced in the country.
“But how do we promote manufacturing of patented drugs in India?…We are thinking of bringing a policy to promote manufacturing of patented drugs in India,” Mandaviya said.
Stating that in order to promote manufacturing of patented drugs, research and innovation is required, the minister said during the three-day event to be held from April 25-27, the government will be discussing with industry players and take their feedback on the things which are needed to be done, what role the government can play and what should be the policy to promote such initiatives.
“So there will be brainstorming with the participation of the industry as they know what should be the outlook and futuristic plans and what type of policy would be required to support it. It is important that we get their inputs,” Mandaviya added.
This conference will help in the framing the roadmap of the pharma sector for the next 25 years, he said.
Reiterating that the government’s goal is to be self-reliant, he said the production-linked incentive schemes for the pharma sector have encouraged manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the country and 53 APIs, which account for 90 per cent of imports, have been identified and manufacturing of some of them has already started in India.
“Our aim was to stop dependence on import for the critical requirements,” the minister said, adding being in a globalised world, there could not be 100 per cent ban on either import or exports of such ingredients.
Mandaviya also said for the Indian pharma sector, it is about meeting the requirements of the country and serving the needs of the world as well.
