Indian pharma leaders urge shift from generics to innovation

Leaders of major Indian pharmaceutical companies are calling for a strategic shift from the production of generic medicines toward high-value innovation. Speaking at the Indian Foundation for Quality Management's Third Annual Symposium, executives from Sun Pharma, Biocon, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals emphasized that the next decade is a critical period for the nation to transition from being the ‘pharmacy of the world’ to an innovation-led industry.

Sun Pharma Executive Chairman Dilip Shanghvi, Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Chairman Glenn Saldanha stressed the necessity of sustained investment in research and development (R&D), regulatory reforms, and ecosystem building. Shanghvi noted that the Indian industry has reached a scale that allows for global product launches and argued that because innovative products command a much larger share of the global market than generics, serious investment in innovation is essential for Indian companies to achieve global scale.