Bangalore: Subodh Priolkar, President of Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC), talked about the seminar on “Vision 2020: India - The Pharma Power House” in the 63^rd IPC conference held in Bangalore from 16^th-18^th December, at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), as stated by Pharmabiz.com.

The ongoing theme of IPC has been ‘Vision 2020’ for the past few years and this too was the theme of this year’s conference. The next conference will be held in Goa. Priolkar mostly talked about Big Pharma in the conference. With the continuous growth in the Indian Pharma sector, there is great hope that India will surpass other nations in the field of Pharma. He said that, “There is a massive and aggressive cost cut-down initiative being planned by Big Pharma in the regulated markets. Their strategy is to reduce costs by US$ 2 billion by closing five research facilities, shutting down or selling three manufacturing facilities and reducing 10 percent of workforce which is estimated to be around 10,000 people.”

Priolkar said that Big Pharma is planning to outsource about 30 percent of its production, in order to bring down costs by $900 million. Big Pharma has also decided to outsource people from India, China and East Europe for its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), which are produce in-house for conventional drugs. It is also trying to bring down costs of the company by $1.5 billion restructuring the sales and manufacturing departments. The 80 plants currently being operated are also being thought of to be reduced. It is also thinking of outsourcing the manufacturing of off-patent products.

It is also planning to cut down administrative and general operations by standardizing and simplifying the processes and services of outsourcing in the next 3 years.  Priolkar also talked about reducing the market coverage by cutting down its brand and mature products by 60 percent in the next 4 years. Thus, pharmaceutical companies are facing a tough challenge to stay ahead in the competition. About $35 billion worth of drugs will be going off-patent by the year 2012 and there has been a surge of generic drugs in the market. Also, the FDA regulations have become stricter, thus compelling drug manufacturing companies to rigorously test their drugs to make sure that they are safe for consumers.

He concluded the seminar by saying that India, thus, has the potential to become a pharma superpower because not only does our country have the right kind of people for the job but also the much needed help from research institutions regarding drugs. He also stressed upon the education aspect of pharma, which will inculcate the right kind of spirit to stay in this industry.