India must leverage its strengths to spur biopharma Innovation

In order to develop a world-class innovation hub for the global biopharma industry, India needs to do a better job of leveraging its unique capabilities in information technology, engineering, and clinical research, suggests a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The report, Biopharma R&D: Moving the Needle in Innovation, says that although the Indian government has declared 2010 to 2020 the ''Decade of Innovation,'' the country must encourage greater investment and activity in bioinformatics, applied research, and translational research to maximise opportunities for R&D in the life sciences. The report will be released at the annual USA-India BioPharma & Healthcare Summit today in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The report builds on BCG's ongoing work with the USA-India Chamber of Commerce (USAIC) and is based on in-depth research and interviews with more than 30 global R&D leaders.

''India can become a global innovation hub, but there are several challenges to fully realising its potential, particularly around policy, infrastructure, and creating collaborative partnerships,'' said Kim Wagner, a BCG senior partner and coauthor of the report.

Emerging markets will drive nearly 70 per cent of the growth in the global biopharma industry through 2015, and India's contribution is key, the report notes. This presents a significant commercial opportunity for foreign and domestic biopharma companies, but R&D investments will need to be tailor-made for India on the basis of its local capabilities. The same is true for other emerging-market countries, including Brazil, Russia, and China.

''Traditional business models don't easily translate to these markets, and strategies need to be modified,'' said Wagner. ''But while R&D investments in emerging markets can go hand in hand with the commercial opportunity, the prospects to drive innovation will depend on the particular advantages of each market.''