A new survey gives India's R&D industry some high marks from a range of multinational biopharma companies, with most planning to increase the number of clinical studies underway on the subcontinent. But even as the field grows, India has been able to command only a tiny fraction of the money being spent on drug research around the world. And Indian companies will have to do a lot more than offer lower-cost studies in order to command a bigger share of the world's pharma research budget.
That's the word from Boston Consulting Group, which found that a solid 70 percent of the execs they surveyed have been satisfied with their R&D alliances in India. But even while many lay the foundation for more clinical research, India has only 1 percent of the global R&D budget for trials. And the consultants say that Indian companies will need to start doing ore collaborative work--particularly on new drugs for rare diseases--of the country expects to catch up with trend setters in Eastern Europe.
"We feel that India's research sector still has tremendous opportunities for growth, particularly with BioPharma companies struggling to resolve the crisis in R&D productivity," Bart Janssens, a BCG partner and co-author of the report, tells The Hindu. "But lowering costs is only half of the solution."
"Costs are critical, and India can play a significant role in increasing R&D efficiency over the short to medium term," said Kim Wagner, a BCG senior partner and co-author of the report. "But collaborative partnerships, compared to traditional vendor relationships, can have a much more substantial impact on a company's ability to create new and innovative products."
- here's the release
- read the story from The Hindu