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The Indian pharmaceutical industry has achieved scale in making generic medicines, but the next frontier is in making complex and innovative products and adopt new capabilities including AI, as they face geo-political headwinds, among other challenges, said the top-management of leading pharmaceutical companies.
Making products that are affordable will be at the core, given that Indian drugmakers are able to make affordable versions of existing and newer products, said Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Zydus Lifesciences and President, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA). The journey now is to build “innovation at scale”, he said, and that could be done through co-development, licensing or collaborations, he said, speaking at a panel discussion on the final day of the Quality Summit organised by the IPA – a platform largely for domestic drugmakers.
Sun Pharmaceuticals Executive Chairman Dilip Shanghvi called for a recalibration of the pharma industry’s generic thinking, in terms of investment decisions, for example. Pointing out that he did not see “innovation at scale” yet in the industry, Shanghvi put it down to the lack of “familiarity” with the decision-making process, for example, in this landscape. The mindset needs to change from bringing out products “cheaper and better” to “faster and better”, he said. And as more companies start to succeed in this journey, it would build the confidence of others in the industry, he added. Lupin Managing Director Nilesh Gupta also pointed out the need for more success stories. Citing Glenmark’s success with out-licensing a prospective drug molecule, he said, “we need 10 more of this.”
Madan Mohan Reddy, Whole Time Director with Aurobindo Pharma, said the present research spends of companies was not enough to innovate. The next decade will involve much change, he said, and the way ahead would be through more partnerships and collaborations, he said, with a strong accent on quality.
Published on February 24, 2026
English (US) ·