Tag: Sudarshan Jain

PLI scheme for bulk drugs positive for Indian pharma industry, say experts

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The government has approved the applications of Aurobindo Pharma and Karnataka Antibiotics and pharma. The approval is for four products and for both companies, the total investment is Rs 3,700 crore. Sudarshan Jain, Secretary-General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance and Nithya Balasubramanian, Director, Sanford Bernstein discussed the development with CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday.

“It is a great positive step for the Indian pharmaceutical industry. This scheme covers not only companies but we are also talking of the pharmaceutical clusters. We will also have three clusters in the country which will be announced in due course of time. Rs 6,940 crore have been kept for APIs and Rs 3,000 crore has been kept for pharmaceutical clusters. We need to create an overall ecosystem for this that will encourage the production of APIs in this country. This is a very positive step both from the industry point of view, from the country point of view and overall world point of view because we are talking about diversified supply chain from the world today,” Jain said.

Sanford Bernstein’s Balasubramanian said, “I think the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme should definitely give a kicker to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) industry. The biggest challenge for Indian companies has been their ability to match the scale that Chinese companies have built over the last several years. The PLI scheme should definitely support as long as the incentives last. It can level the playing field.”

A shift to India from China as the main source of supply in API is possible, Balasubramanian said.

“In most products, we are talking about 15-20 percent kind of price difference between Chinese API and the India APT and the incentives can definitely go a long way towards reducing that differential. I do believe in the next three-four year timeframe we will start seeing customer shift to India as the main source of supply,” she said.

On the valuations front, she said, “Valuations have gone up more than what I would be comfortable with.”

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COVID-19 testing: Focus is on building capacity for home visits, says Ameera Shah of Metropolis

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In these challenging times of coronavirus outbreak, the one sector that is in focus for  be it an investor or a citizen is pharmaceutical.

Ameera Shah, MD of Metropolis and Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance in an interview with CNBC-TV18 discuss in detail how the drug industry is tackling the challenges and how testing of COVID-19 by private labs was shaping up.

Shah said that they are seeing a lot of demand in cities for patients with prescriptions wanting to test for coronavirus. “A lot of people have similar symptoms to COVID-19, flu like symptoms, sore throat, fever, cough and are wanting to get checked. So, we are seeing demand for testing,” she said.

With regards to testing, she said, “Right now we are focusing on building the capacity for home visits but the biggest challenge that we are having at this point of time is our manpower who are willing to go for home services to people’s houses, we are having a challenge in having enough instrumentation, challenge in having enough reagents and chemicals to do the testing.”

Shah further said they were also facing challenges with respect to supplies for testing due to lack of commercial flights. “Today, while we could collect samples in Delhi, Chennai, or Bangalore, bringing them to Mumbai is becoming a challenge because of lack of commercial flights. So, if these issues can be resolved by the government, then we would be able to ramp-up even more quickly as we move forward,” she added.

When asked if there was a shortage of drugs, Jain said currently they have adequate stock in terms of APIs and drugs. “The stocks are available for 3-4 months requirement. As far as hydroxyquinoline and azithromycin is concerned, we have got the capacity to produce 3-4 million tablets of hydroxyquinoline in the country. So, we are totally prepared and we have got all the capability for production of the goods,” he said.

Jain further added that the spurt in demand for drug hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQS) was unprecedented. He also said that there has been some hoarding, but they are totally prepared to supply it. “Zydus Cadila and IPCA are the world’s largest producers and they can totally prepared to supply whatever the requirement. They are ramping it up and  are in discussions with all the city governments. They are totally prepared for supplying the products,” he said.

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Coronavirus concerns: Need to take immediate steps to address possible shortages if crisis extends, says Biocon

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Various stakeholders of the pharmaceutical industry along with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon met government officials yesterday to discuss the supply concerns if any due to coronavirus outbreak.

“We had a very useful meeting yesterday chaired by Amitabh Kant. We had all the various stakeholders from industry and government involved and we did a fairly good assessment of what the state of preparedness should be,”  said Mazumdar Shaw in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

“At this point in time, I do believe that we are quite safe for the next several months but we all realise that we have to basically make sure that we take some immediate steps to start addressing possible shortages if this coronavirus crisis extends beyond six months,” she said, adding that the government said they would do everything to free up the hurdles faced either by closed plants or existing plants, which wish to produce certain products that they don’t currently produce in case the crisis extends.

“Going forward we need to focus on producing many of our requirements at scale and we need to regain our lost position in terms of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and even intermediate production,” said Mazumdar Shaw.

Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance had told CNBC-TV18 that as of now there was no supply disruption and they were good at least for the next four-five months, so there won’t be any impact on drugs. However, he mentioned that raw material prices could go up further.

When asked about the situation with regards to supply and raw material prices, Mazumdar Shaw said, “That is a pretty realistic statement. If this continues beyond six months, we do have to worry about the impact. For now, we are okay. I also believe that because of this crisis, prices are going to go up in many cases but that is okay because even if the prices do go up, they won’t significantly impact drug prices.”

“India has a huge opportunity and this should not be a lost opportunity because there are opportunities in many sectors but pharmaceutical sector is a big one and we should focus on that,” she further mentioned.

Talking specifically on Trastuzumab, she said, “We are very gung-ho on this product. We have had a very successful launch with Pegfilgrastim, and Mylan is very confident that it can repeat that success with Trastuzumab as well. I believe we should be able to have a very successful launch and market share.”

When asked about inspections and observations, she said, “We have to understand that USFDA or any regulatory inspections are a way of life for us and with every inspector there are going to be observations and we have to address these observations through plans. So, every company should get used to that. We look at it as a continual improvement opportunity for the company.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow