‘Indian Pharma Can Gain From U.S.-China Trade War’

Chairman of CII National Committee on Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories co-chairman and managing director G.V.Prasad on Monday said the U.S.-China trade war was an opportunity opening up for the pharma industry of India.

The trade war was making companies in the West take a re-look at the tariff structure as well as worried about security of supply from China. Other factors emerging as a window of opportunity were, China’s stress on shutting high polluting industries and move away from low-end, low-value add products to more innovation. Moreover, China is a big market for Indian pharma.

“China was giving competition in starting materials [but] they have vacated that space,” Mr. Prasad said at a Health and Pharma Conclave of CII and the Institute of Management Technology here and in an interaction with the media on the sidelines.

Highlighting the need for Indian pharma firms to give shape to their backward and forward integration projects, he said “larger companies are looking at India more for product sourcing and services.”

On the regulatory concerns for the Indian pharma industry, in the wake of the increased scrutiny by the US Food and Drug Administration, he said “lot of companies have approvals stalled because of warning letters [from the USFDA]. That has affected new product introduction and growth.” The companies, however, needed to “up their game, systems, integrity of data…,” he said, even while citing the regulatory actions as a reason for slowdown.

Mr. Prasad said the pharma industry was not yet ready for digitisation. “We are using technology that are decades [old], not yet ready for e-commerce, Industry 4.0, automation, digital marketing. Industry wastes lot of money in having thousands of medical reps calling on doctors, detailing products, which are not original but really 20-30 years [old]. This largely could be done away with digital marketing,” he said.-The Hindu