For decades, India’s pharmaceutical industry has been guided by a simple principle: medicines must reach the patients who need them most.
Today, nearly one in five generic medicines used worldwide is manufactured in India, reaching patients in more than 200 countries. This scale was built during the process-patent era, when Indian companies developed deep expertise in reverse engineering complex molecules and manufacturing processes. Replicating medicines at scale required sophisticated capabilities in chemistry, process engineering, and regulatory science.
Over time, these capabilities created one of the world’s most advanced generic manufacturing ecosystems. Today, India accounts for nearly 35–40% of Drug Master Files filed with the United States Food and Drug Administration, reflecting the depth of its scientific and manufacturing capability.
The global impact of this model became especially visible during the HIV crisis of the early 2000s, when the cost of antiretroviral therapy fell dramatically from over $10,000 per patient annually to about $1 per day following the entry of Indian manufacturers, greatly expanding treatment access across Africa and other regions.
In doing so, India did more than manufacture medicines at scale; it reshaped the economics of treatment access worldwide.
Those same capabilities now raise a larger question: can India evolve from the world’s pharmacy into a global centre for discovering new medicines while keeping patients and access at the heart of innovation?
The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) believes it can, and has articulated an ambitious aspiration: 100 new drugs from India by the country’s 100th year of independence.
Why the Shift to Innovation Matters
India’s contribution to global healthcare access is significant. Yet the economics of the pharmaceutical industry reveal a clear imbalance between volume and value.
In the United States, the world’s largest pharmaceutical market, generic medicines account for nearly 90% of prescriptions but only about 13% of total drug spending. Innovative therapies, by contrast, represent roughly 10% of prescriptions but capture nearly 87% of the market value.
The lesson is clear: volume lies in generics, but value lies in innovation.
While India plays a dominant role in the global supply of generics, its share of pharmaceutical innovation remains relatively small, estimated at around 2–3% of global discovery activity. By comparison, the United States accounts for nearly 45% of new drug discovery, with Europe and China contributing significantly larger shares.
The challenge, therefore, is not to move away from generics, which remain central to global healthcare access, but to complement manufacturing scale with discovery capabilities—creating a model that combines scientific excellence with cost-efficient manufacturing.
Innovation Driven by Patient Need
India’s drug discovery efforts are increasingly shaped by disease burden and patient need, both domestically and globally. A high prevalence of infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, antimicrobial resistance, and rare conditions is driving demand for locally relevant therapies.
A growing pipeline of India-origin medicines reflects this shift:
Antimicrobial resistance, one of the most urgent global health threats, is driving the development of novel antibiotics such as Nafithromycin from Wockhardt and Enmetazobactam from Orchid Pharma.
Metabolic and chronic diseases are also rising rapidly. Drugs such as Saroglitazar and Desidustat from Zydus Lifesciences reflect the growing capability of Indian companies to develop indigenous small molecules targeting cardiometabolic and renal conditions.
Oncology and immunology represent complex areas of innovation. Trinbelimab from Bharat Serum and Vaccines and the checkpoint inhibitor CA-170—developed by Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services and licensed globally to Curis—illustrate India’s expanding presence in immuno-oncology.
Vaccines remain a longstanding strength. Products such as ROTAVAC, Typbar TCV, and COVAXIN demonstrate India’s ability to translate research into large-scale public health impact, particularly for children in low-resource settings.
Advanced therapies represent the next frontier. Indigenous CAR-T programs from ImmunoACT, Immuneel Therapeutics, and Aurigene Oncology signal the maturation of India’s clinical and translational ecosystem. Stem cell therapies from Stempeutics (Stempeucel) for osteoarthritis, cell replacement therapy for dry AMD from Eyestem, are also gaining global attention.
Why This Moment Is Different
India has pursued drug discovery before. What distinguishes the current phase is a more mature and better-resourced innovation ecosystem.
Several structural forces are now converging: deep scientific capabilities built through decades of chemistry and process innovation; expansion into biologics and advanced therapies; growing translational research infrastructure; stronger alignment between industry and national innovation policy; and increasing availability of venture capital.
This shift is also being powered by a new generation of scientific talent. India’s vast pool of STEM graduates is increasingly pursuing deep-science research, supported by a growing number of returning “brain gain” scientists from global research hubs.
At the same time, the integration of digital health and real-world evidence (RWE) is emerging as a powerful enabler of discovery. Beyond AI-enabled design, Indian firms are leveraging the country’s large and diverse patient population, along with expanding digitised health records, to accelerate clinical trials and validate therapies for global populations. Together, these capabilities enable medicines discovered in India to be developed with both cost efficiency and a depth of data few nations can match.
An Ecosystem Powering India’s Discovery Push
This emerging ecosystem is visible in the growing network of partnerships, technology platforms, venture capital investments, and policy initiatives supporting Indian drug discovery.
Global licensing partnerships are reinforcing confidence in Indian-origin discovery. Glenmark’s multi-billion-dollar licensing partnership with AbbVie through Ichnos Sciences, including a significant upfront commitment, highlights growing international trust in Indian research pipelines. Aurigene’s collaboration with Curis and Biocon’s global biologics partnerships further illustrate this trend.
Artificial intelligence is also beginning to reshape drug discovery. Startups such as Peptris Technologies, Aganitha, Prescience, and Aria Matrix are applying AI across target identification and molecular design, helping compress early discovery timelines. Peptris recently licensed its AI-identified Duchenne muscular dystrophy asset to Revio Therapeutics, highlighting the emergence of computationally driven discovery in India.
Combined with India’s strong chemistry expertise and expanding clinical infrastructure, AI-enabled discovery could become an important competitive advantage.
Venture capital is also playing a growing role in supporting science-led startups. Immuneel Therapeutics, backed by the Biocon Group and institutional investors, is advancing CAR-T therapies within India, while Ahammune Biosciences has secured venture backing to develop novel immunology assets.
Deep-tech investors, including pi Ventures, Bharat Innovation Fund, and Speciale Invest, are increasingly supporting such science-led startups.
Public policy is evolving in parallel. The Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech (PRIP) scheme aims to catalyse industry-led R&D and establish Centres of Excellence in areas such as antimicrobial resistance and biologics. Broader Research and Innovation initiatives are also seeking to expand long-term funding for translational life sciences aligned with India’s 2047 development vision.
The Union Budget 2026–27 has also announced the ₹10,000-crore BioPharma Shakti initiative to strengthen India’s position as a global biopharmaceutical manufacturing and research hub. The initiative aims to expand accredited clinical trial sites and enhance regulatory capacity within the CDSCO, while the RDI scheme will also promote innovation through significant risk sharing.
Yet discovery alone does not bring medicines to patients. Sustained pharmaceutical innovation also depends on the strength of the manufacturing systems that deliver medicines to the world.
Building the Manufacturing Backbone of Innovation
Pharmaceutical innovation ultimately depends on a technologically advanced manufacturing base that can translate scientific breakthroughs into safe, scalable medicines.
Initiatives such as Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes and bulk drug parks are strengthening domestic capabilities in critical inputs and expanding the infrastructure needed to support the development of new therapies.
Quality remains a defining strength. India hosts the largest number of US FDA-approved pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities outside the United States, reflecting decades of investment in regulatory compliance and manufacturing excellence, now reinforced by digitalisation, automation, Industry 4.0 technologies, and a growing focus on operational and technical skill development.
As innovation expands into biologics and advanced therapies, continued strengthening of regulatory capabilities and specialised technical infrastructure will be essential to support the next generation of medicines.
Conclusion: From Pharmacy to Discovery
India earned global trust by expanding access to affordable, quality-assured medicines. The next chapter is to build on that foundation through patient-centred, affordable innovation.
A growing pipeline of new drugs, vaccines, biologics, and advanced therapies emerging from Indian companies reflects the steady maturation of the country’s research ecosystem - one that is increasingly capable of translating science into globally relevant therapies.
For decades, India helped the world access medicines. In the years ahead, it may increasingly help discover them, ensuring that innovation remains globally competitive while continuing to serve the patients who need it most.
