India Gets Rs 10,000 Crore Biopharma Shakti Push to Become Global Biopharma Powerhouse
India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced something huge for the future of healthcare. The government has allocated Rs. 10000 crore for the next 5 years, and they have named a new “Biopharma Shakti” programme. The main goal of this programme is to make India the top leader in the world of medicine manufacturing.
What is the Programme About?
The main focus of this programme is biologics and biosimilars, which are complex medicines from live cells and not a mixture of simple chemicals. These are not about the simple medicines; it is about sophisticated treatment for diseases like diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune conditions. As the lifestyle patterns for Indians have changtes these are the diseases that are affecting more number of people.
Currently, the country is dependent too much on imports for these advanced medicines. And they have become more expensive, which the majority of the population is not able to afford. This initiative is completely built to solve this issue, and they have planned to build an entire ecosystem to produce these drugs in India. This will eventually bring the prices down and make them affordable for most of the population.
Steps that have been taken
The plan has taken solid steps to make this a huge success. As p[er the plan, the government will be setting up three completely new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and advance and upgrade the 7 existing institutes. These are not fancy research institutes; as we hear the names, they are being set up to train the next generation of scientists who will be developing the medicines.
Another interesting part is that the country will create 1000 accredited clinical trial sites across the country. The developed medicines get tested through clinical trials before they reach the patients. Currently, most of the pharma companies are conducting the trials somewhere else, as India does not have good-quality and standardized facilities for testing. This network that will be set up will help to change, and they will be able to do it in the country itself.
Why Does This Matter?
This programme will matter so much to the common people. Diseases like cancer and diabetes require very expensive treatments and will cost lakhs of rupees to get the medicines. But through this programme, if India starts manufacturing these domestically, then the cost of medicines will reduce drastically. This will give the patients better access to treatments and will save millions of lives.
The government is also planning to strengthen the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization in order to meet global regulatory standards. This one is very important because if the drugs made here meet the international quality standard,s then we can start exporting them to other countries. This will be a major opportunity to boost the economy.
We can recently see a lot of non-communicable disease patterns, and biological medicines are important to manage these diseases. Hence, this is the right time for the investment.
There is also good news for students and graduates, as this program has promised to create more job opportunities for science and engineering graduates. This is something that India desperately needs and is working for.
If this plan works out well, then India can also join hands with other countries to produce advanced medicines. We are already supplying the majority of the vaccine and generic medicine, and adding these biologics to the portfolio will be a huge win for the healthcare industry and the country’s economy.
The reality is not exactly the same. We have to wait and watch. Practical questions like Can these institutes be set up quickly? Will the clinical trial sites meet the international standards? Can we attract global pharmaceutical companies to invest here? Are still to be answered. The answer to these questions will tell us if the program will be a success, as the name suggests. Let us wait and watch the “Biopharma Shakti”.
