New Delhi: The Modi government is set to make a fresh push for indigenous drug discovery, and set up a dedicated research and development (R&D) cell to oversee the efforts, ThePrint has learnt.
The efforts seek to address the criticism lobbed at India for failing to discover even a single drug molecule to date despite being the largest producer of generic medicines in the world.
According to government officers, the drug discovery plan is part of a three-part agenda envisaged for the Indian pharmaceutical industry for 2020. The other two — reducing dependence on ingredients for drugs (active pharmaceutical ingredients, API) from China, and imports for medical devices — were taken care of with the launch of the Production- Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme last month, the officers said.
The PLI scheme promises incentives to local industry for efforts that help meet the two goals.
The drug discovery scheme was first outlined by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) last year, but took the backseat as the Covid-19 pandemic, which originated in China, led the government to prioritise the PLI policy amid fears of a drug shortfall.
The DoP, which falls under the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, has returned to the drawing board to fine-tune the R&D plan, which will be overseen by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), two senior officials of the department said.
“The DoP had zeroed in on three priority areas which needed attention this year. The Covid outbreak triggered shortage of drug raw materials in India and, hence, the policy for local manufacturing of these API became the first priority. Now, the PLI scheme will take care of this aspect,” said a senior officer from the DoP.
We are deeply grateful to our readers & viewers for their time, trust and subscriptions.
Quality journalism is expensive and needs readers to pay for it. Your support will define our work and ThePrint’s future.
“Second is our dependence on imported medical devices. The PLI scheme will look after this aspect as well. So, finally, we will now fix the challenge faced by India in drug discovery,” the officer added. “It is high time we start demonstrating our drug discovery capabilities to the world.”
What’s the plan?
India is home to over 3,000 pharma companies and a network of over 10,500 manufacturing facilities, and is the third-largest seller of medicines in the world. However, it remains out of the club of nations that have demonstrated the capability of developing a new drug molecule.
In the five-year vision document prepared after the Modi government returned to office last year, the DoP had planned to “stimulate R&D in pharma”.
The same year, the DoP set up an inter-departmental committee to coordinate R&D activities undertaken by various top institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs), and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
ThePrint had reported at the time that the panel, led by DoP secretary P.D. Vaghela, had “proposed to create a separate vacancy for the post of R&D head”.
The plan remains the same even now, the two officers said.
“We have started working on finalising the role and key responsibility areas of the R&D head,” said the second officer, adding that “every step is taken after discussing it with representatives of premier institutes such as IITs, NIPER and BIRAC”.
“A separate cell will be made under the ambit of DoP which will coordinate with all top institutes in India for the latest project,” the officer said.
Top pharma companies to be involved
The department has started drawing up a “research action plan”. “A list will be made about the top projects that require urgent attention and all resources will be made available through us,” said the second officer.
The DoP, which is responsible for making policies related to drugs and medical devices in India, may also play an important role in connecting pharmaceutical giants with molecule innovators working at government and private laboratories.
“We will act as a common link between industry and research bodies. We are hopeful that the policy will soon show big results,” said the second officer.
Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram
News media is in a crisis & only you can fix it
You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.
You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.
We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And we aren’t even three yet.
At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly and on time even in this difficult period. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. Our stellar coronavirus coverage is a good example. You can check some of it here.
This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. Because the advertising market is broken too.
If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous, and questioning journalism, please click on the link below. Your support will define our journalism, and ThePrint’s future. It will take just a few seconds of your time.