India Pharma And India Medical Device India Will Be the Leading International Healthcare Hub By 2023

The 8th international conference on Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices was successfully concluded today by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The conference, which was inaugurated by Union Ministers of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilisers Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya and Mr. Bhagwanth Khuba, aimed to attract international collaboration and investments in India's pharmaceutical and medical device sectors.

The two-day conference saw the release of the National Medical Device Policy, as well as the Medical Devices Export Promotion Council, Assistance to Medical Device Clusters for Common Facility Scheme, and reports on the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices sectors commissioned by the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the PMPDS scheme. Over the course of two days, the conference featured a variety of informative sessions, workshops, and CEO roundtables.

On day one, the conference theme was Sustainable Medtech 5.0: Scaling and Innovating Indian MedTech, and three sessions were held on Practical Commercialization Strategies for MedTech: Pilot scale to Production scale. Mr.Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, presided over the session, and the key takeaways were scaling manufacturing for commercial requirements and ensuring regulatory compliance of medical devices, as well as strategies for securing funding for product development and manufacturing in the medical device sector.

Another session, chaired by Dr N Yuvaraj, Joint Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, was on Propelling Innovation and R&D Growth: Efficient Quality Management in MedTech. The key takeaway for the session was the analysis of the National Medical Device Policy and proposed R&D policy, understanding the gaps in the current R&D ecosystem in the MedTech industry, and the implementation of research outcome-linked fiscal incentives to support innovation in India and globally among others. The third session of day one was based on Capacity & Skill building in MedTech: Industry-Academia Integration and was chaired by Mr. K Sanjay Murthy, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India where key takeaway was the importance of mapping the gaps in the workforce and developing a future-ready workforce in the medical device sector.

The theme for the second day session was on Indian Pharma Industry: Delivering value through Innovation under which three sessions were taken place. The first topic for the session was Pharmaceutical industry as pillar of India's growth and quality as the key foundation growth driver which was chaired by: Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family welfare, GoI which discussed the role of Indian Pharma industry in driving India's economic growth and What kind of Innovations, quality, and global reach India should focus to contribute globally – more from value perspectives then volume. Another session on Digital transformation shaping the pharmaceutical Industry valuechain was chaired by Mr. S Gopalakrishnan, Special secretary, (Health) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI where the Key discussion points were the Digital Transformation in the Pharma Industry look like?, opportunities and challenges related to the digitalisation process: to put a spotlight on what digital transformation means for the pharmaceutical Industry among others.

The second day event concluded with the discussion on Leapfrogging into the future of Indian pharma: Capitalizing on global biosimilar opportunity and was chaired by Dr. Y.K. Gupta, Chairman, AIIMS Bhopal and AIIMS Jammu, GoI with the key discussion points of measures to compete with other developed countries in terms of regulatory aspects and export of biosimilars and other related subjects. About Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India: The Department of Pharmaceuticals was created on 1st July 2008 to be a focused Department of the Government of India for fostering the growth of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry. The Department has been assigned several functions including inter-alia promotion of Research, Education and Training, Public Private Partnership, International Cooperation, Inter-Sectoral cooperation, Industrial Cooperation, Environment and Hazard Management and Pricing and Availability of Medicines. The Department of Pharmaceuticals discharges its functions through active consultations with stakeholders to formulate new schemes/ proposals/ strategies for promoting the growth of the Pharmaceutical Industry.