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Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Sept. 28 There is an immediate need to clear the space for innovation in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, according to experts at the Healthcare and Pharma Conclave 2009 organised by the Indian School of Business here.

Participating at a panel discussion on pharma and biotech industry, the Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, Dr Krishna M. Ella, said the absence of laws protecting intellectual property rights was discouraging innovation.

Saying that whatever protection that was available currently was not sufficient, Dr Ella said “little protection is the same as no protection. Hence, the approach should be to go for complete protection, including incremental innovation law.”

On the economics of the pharma industry, Dr Ella noted “it was not appropriate to call India a low-cost manufacturer. We are able to manufacture at low cost because we are more efficient.”

Arguing that drug price control policies were not required as the pharma companies were already selling the ‘cheapest’ generics, he said the focus should be on accessibility to drugs rather than pricing.

The Managing Director, Wyeth Ltd, Mr Ranga Iyer, said the denial of incremental innovation protection was hurting the pharma industry. “China has laws to protect incremental innovation, which is giving it an upper hand,” he observed.

The Director, External Research and Licensing, Merck & Co, Mr Swaminathan Subramaniam, said “serious issues such as encouraging academicians to commercialise their discoveries without fear of losing ownership of the patent or job should be taken up on a priority basis.”

At a panel discussion on healthcare delivery, the Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Hospitals, Dr Hari Prasad, said despite the existence of several theories and models, there was no demonstrated model that could work well on delivery issues.

The President (Strategy and Organisational Development), Fortis Healthcare, Dr Daljit Singh, observed that innovation was the need of the hour for the healthcare industry.

Stressing on the need for out-of-the-box thinking, Dr Singh said “we can also build floating hospitals so that we can provide cost-effective healthcare to the US patients, off-shore.”

More Stories on : Pharmaceuticals | Medical Institutions & Hospitals | Andhra Pradesh

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