Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement “Where convention fails, innovation helps”, at the Global Innovation Summit 2021 held by the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance. At the event promoting innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, the Union Health Minister said that India has been focusing on providing support to the pharmaceutical companies in India by helping them in all stages from innovation and R&D to finished products. Moreover, to further the vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ or self-reliant India, numerous PLI schemes for pharmaceuticals and medical equipment have also been announced in the country in recent times, the minister added.
He also thanked and appreciated the contribution that Indian pharmaceutical companies made during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mandaviya also said that India’s research policy for health is in advanced stages, and the policy aims to provide the right platform for innovation in this sector.
Announcing that more than 115 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccination have been administered in the country so far, he said that these vaccines were not only manufactured in India, but were also developed here, making this the first time that “India started the vaccination for any disease with other developed countries”. This, he said, reflected the skill of scientists, manpower, manufacturing capacity and the able leadership in the country to make this happen.
He also spoke about the lessons learnt from the pandemic, and how it made people realise the importance of drug security. Urging other countries to invest in India’s pharmaceutical sector for drug security, he said he was confident that India will achieve the ambitious target of a $130-billion pharmaceutical industry by 2030. Mandaviya also highlighted that the pharmaceutical industry in the country is aggressively working towards the early delivery of PM Modi’s commitment of providing the world with 500 crore vaccine doses next year.
This article was originally published on Express Pharma