Indian govt plans to support a competitive pharma sector, especially for SMEs

In a bid to strengthen the existing infrastructure facilities and to enable the Indian pharmaceutical industry to play a leading role in a competitive global market, as well as to increase the added value of the domestic pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, India's Department of Pharmaceuticals has outlined a Cluster Development Program for the sector, report The Pharma Letter’s Indian correspondent.

Chiefly aimed at enhancing the innovative capabilities of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and tackling quality and productivity issues, the government is looking to create world class quality manufacturing facilities with high levels of productivity and innovative capabilities.

Since these are very capital intensive operations, and cannot be established by SME drug manufacturing units on their own given their financial constraints, the government has decided to step in. Global technical expertise would also be part of the package, as would be investment and partnership strategies, as well as easy access to standard testing facilities.