NEW DELHI: India’s pharmaceutical industry must focus on both generics and innovative products, as well as develop products specially tailored for the country’s patient needs. Domestic companies particularly smaller to mid-sized players can carve out a strong role in rare diseases and niche patient segments, where agility and specialised research can drive meaningful breakthroughs, pharma leaders said at India Pharma 2026 on Tuesday. “Given India’s vast and diverse disease burden, this approach is necessary. At the same time, building a parallel market for reimbursement of innovative therapies through insurance, government support, or alternative financing models, will be critical to ensure that breakthrough treatments are developed’’, Pankaj Patel, past president, Ficci and chairman, Zydus Lifesciences, said. Elaborating on the long-term vision of developing 100 new drugs by 2047, he said, would require a significant increase in research and development investment from the current 6–7% of turnover to 12–15%. Further, the Research Development Innovation (RDI) fund expected to get operationalised this year with the recent appointment of two fund managers including BIRAC, could be pivotal. Announced last year as a Rs 1 lakh crore scheme, and anchored by the Department of Science and Technology and operationalised through the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), the initiative is expected to be rolled out this year with the appointment of two fund managers. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, chief executive officer, ANRF, outlined the evolving research funding architecture, noting that it combines grant-based support for academia and not-for-profit institutions with capital-based instruments for the private sector. Anirudh Roy Popli, partner, McKinsey, emphasized that investments in innovation can yield up to fourfold returns, making a strong case for scaling funding across the ecosystem. Further, Sunil Thakur, Partner and IC Member, Quadria Capital and Co-founder, HealthQuad, pointed out that despite strong fundamentals, the lack of deep risk capital and a robust exit ecosystem remains a critical constraint for scaling pharmaceutical innovation in the country.
