Research & Development is the key to the future of
pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical advances for considerable
improvement in life expectancy and health all over the world are the result
of a steadily increasing investment in research. There is considerable scope
for collaborative R & D in India. India can offer several strengths to
the international R & D community. These strengths relate to
availability of excellent scientific talents who can develop combinatorial
chemistry, new synthetic molecules and plant derived candidate drugs.
R & D in the pharmaceutical industry in India is critical to find
answers for some of the diseases peculiar to a tropical country like India
and also for finding solutions for unmet medical needs. Industrial R & D
groups can carry out limited primary screening to identify lead molecules or
even candidate drugs for further in vivo screening, pre-clinical
pharmacology, toxicology, animal and human pharmacokinetics and metabolic
studies before taking them up for human trials. In such collaborations,
harmonized standards of screening can be assured following established good
laboratory practices.
The R & D expenditure by the Indian pharmaceutical industry is around
1.9% of the industry’s turnover. This obviously, is very low when
compared to the investment on R & D by foreign research-based pharma
companies. They spend 10 - 16% of the turnover on R & D. However, now
that India is entering into the Patent protection area, many companies are
spending relatively more on R & D.
When it comes to clinical evaluation at the time of multi-center trials,
India would provide a strong base considering the real availability of
clinical materials in diverse therapeutic areas. Such active collaboration
will be mutually beneficial to both partners. According to a survey by the
Pharmaceutical Outsourcing Management Association and Bio/Pharmaceutical
Outsourcing Report, pharmaceutical companies are utilizing substantially the
services of Contract Research Organizations (CROs).
Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, with its rich scientific talents, provides
cost-effective clinical trial research. It has an excellent record of
development of improved, cost-beneficial chemical syntheses for various drug
molecules. Some MNCs are already sourcing these services from their Indian
affiliates.
The Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry is eligible for weight
deduction for R&D expense upto 150%. These R&D companies will also
enjoy tax holiday for 10 years. A promotional research and development fund
of Rs.150 crores is set up by the Government to promote research and
development in the pharmaceuticals sector.