Pfizer India is in discussions with the government in areas of regulatory streamlining to harmonise standards in the country with other parts of the world. Meenakshi Nevatia, President & Managing Director with Pfizer India, told CNBC-TV18 at the sidelines of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India’s (OPPI) Annual Summit 2023 that regulatory bodies are open to considering ways to bring drugs quickly into India.
She said that drugs launched in the US take 4-5 years to get launched in India. While attributing this time lag to the current regulatory timelines and standards in India, she indicated real intent by the government and the industry to accelerate the introduction of new drugs in India without compromising on safety.
Stating that a lot of progress has been made on patents to incentivise innovation, work towards pre-grants & ensure time-bound decisions, she informed that Pfizer is already conducting global clinical trials in India to generate data on Indian patients and reduce timelines to bring a product to the market.
She further pointed out that the government intends to streamline drug approvals by making them more electronic, a change from the current scenario where pharmaceutical companies have to submit reams of papers before a subject expert committee evaluates every new product to be launched.
Terming access to innovation as pointless without affordability, she said that Pfizer is trying to bring products to the market with targeted price programs to ensure no affordability barrier. Stating that incentives are already there for the IP (Intellectual Property) regime, she clarified that lack of IP doesn't deter entry of new products in the market but rather the time consumed in its approval and subsequent opposition.
However, she lauded the changes made by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to make the process time-bound, describing it as a great step towards increasing government's trust in the private sector.
Describing India as a high-priority market for Pfizer much beyond its commercial business, she pointed out the company's biggest R&D facility outside the US is located at the IIT Madras research park in India where it has over 3,000 employees.
The company's biggest sterile injectable plant outside the US is also located in Visakhapatnam in India, where it is continuously looking to expand production lines and bring more products. 70% of what Pfizer sells in India is made in India, with around half at its own plant in Goa where the company is in process of adding one more production line.
As part of her union budget wishlist, she pitched for an increase in government funding for Ayushman Bharat as well as funding for more therapies and innovation in healthcare. Referring to the government's plans to expand healthcare infrastructure in Tier 3 cities, she added that more budgetary allocation towards healthcare would go a long way towards realising the government's vision of a $200 billion strong healthcare sector by 2030.
(Edited by : Sangam Singh)
First Published: Nov 23, 2023 5:48 PM IST
