The Rs 54,000 crore Indian pharmaceutical industry is showing strong growth, thanks to the shifting of clinical research and manufacturing from the western countries to India. However, in order to sustain this growth and be a global player, it is imperative for pharmaceutical companies to be internationally competitive. This was the message put forth by Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, at the sixth ‘Pharma Excellence Awards 2006’ instituted by Express Pharma. Among the companies which won the ‘‘Pharma Excellence Awards 2006’’ in different categories were Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for ‘Leveraging Global Opportunity Award’ and for ‘Business Deal of the Year’, Pfizer Ltd for ‘Innovative Products of the Year Awards’, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals for ‘Excellence in R&D Innovation Awards’, and Alkem Laboratories for ‘Brand Management Award’. According to Nath, India’s core strength in the pharma sector was in innovation. ‘‘Biotech and the IT sectors would be driving the growth of this industry. India’s creativity is also reaching other parts of the world due to improved regulatory system and manufacturing facilities,’’ he said at the awards night on Saturday.Union Steel Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan who was also one of the invitees, said the government was planning to bring all the essential drugs under price control but with liberal norms for fixing the price. This would be implemented in a manner that would not hamper the growth of pharma industry or the availability of medicine. The government was also planning to strengthen the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) for effective monitoring and control of drug prices, according to him. He said the Indian pharmaceutical sector was expected to grow to a $20-25 billion industry in the next five years. In order to achieve this objective, the main thrust of pharmaceutical companies should lie in exports. Pharma exports are currently at $4 billion. The Indian pharmaceutical industry ranks fourth in the world in terms of volume and 13th in value terms. The share of Indian pharmaceutical industry in the global generic drugs market is currently 22 per cent.
