How to Foster Innovation, Accessibility and Affordability of Indian Pharmaceuticals
UKIBC, alongside its member companies in the healthcare sector, met with Mr Shailendra Singh, the Additional Secretary of DIPP on 20 August 2018, in which the UKIBC’s latest pharma report, ‘Drug Pricing In India: Regulations to Foster Innovation, Accessibility and Affordability’ was presented and used as a focus point for discussions regarding the state of the healthcare sector in India. These talks led to a range of recommendations that the Indian government could implement to boost the Indian healthcare sector.
Central to the recommendations were that the government designing a framework and provide guidelines for industry to deliver medicines to the population at large rather than defining business principles. The group believed that this framework should be built on an evidence-based disease management, delinking of essential drugs from price controls, prioritising over-the-counter-drugs, speedier regulatory approvals, and improved tendering processes.
Other key points that should be considered by the Government of India in the long-run included investigating policies to encourage indigenous active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, setting a timeline for implementing good manufacturing and laboratory practices, removal of loan licensing and CMO practices, bar-coding on packaging, R&D encouragement for long-term growth, more clarity on drug price control orders, and the creation of an overarching platform, such as standard marketing and promotion practices and regulatory and legal practices.
The government is already taking steps towards smoothing out the regulatory environment in the healthcare sector and are considering many of the recommendations that we have put forward. And, given the importance of fostering innovation, accessibility and affordability of pharmaceutical drugs in India, this is clearly an important matter on which the UKIBC will remain engaged.
Read our full report here.
