India's Pharma Exports expected to stay robust amid global slowdown

India's pharmaceutical and meditech sectors are projected to continue their growth momentum throughout the current fiscal year despite a global economic slowdown, A senior government official stated. Secretary Arunish Chawla announced on the sidelines of the CII Pharma and Life Sciences summit that the government is increasing funding for drug development in India. As many as 16 highly effective molecules, designed for various treatment areas such as cancer, diabetes, HIV, and tuberculosis, are set to be manufactured in India.

"We have been analysing the export trends in the recent data. Even though there is a general slowdown in exports globally, the good news is that the Indian pharmaceuticals, biotech, and bulk drug exports have grown double-digit over the last year," he said in response to a query on export prospects of the pharma industry amid a global slowdown.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has already granted approvals to some of the molecules, Chawla said, adding, "going further, we would also be working on their value chains upstream the way we have focused on bulk drugs as upstream value chains of chemical entities." He further said the government is also now focusing on the upstreams of biological entities, which particularly includes basic molecules like amino acids, nucleotides and vaccine raw materials.

"You will see a lot of work taking place in this direction going forward. We are also working on facilitating the cell and gene therapies and healthcare ecosystems that will come up going forward," Chawla said.