Pharma industry to touch $100 billion: Piyush Goyal

Hyderabad: Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that the Indian pharma and biotech industry is expected to grow to $100 billion from the current size of about $40 billion, despite the recent coronavirus outbreak.

He was addressing the BioAsia conclave in Hyderabad which was attended by State Minister for Industries and Commerce, K T Ramarao and many SEOs and other senior officials of pharma companies.

Piyush further said that the Central government is supporting the industry to redefine the future of pharma and biotech in the country by enabling them to get the patent approvals granted in a record period of time worldwide.

Piyush Goyal also advocated that the price controls in India worked huge in favour of the people of the country and reiterated that price controls on drugs and medical devices would remain for the benefit of society.

During the discussion, Industries Minister KT Rama Rao highlighted the issues of price controls, withdrawal of incentives and delay and lack of coordination between the State and the Central government agencies.

Piyush Goyal assured the industry and the State Minister that he would conduct a meeting in March to address all the issues pertaining to the industry by meeting the leaders of the industry.

BioAsia, the Asia's largest biotechnology and life sciences forum, witnessed high profile deliberations and discussions on hot current topics of the global life sciences industry.

On the occasion, the prestigious Genome Valley Excellence Award 2020 was presented to Dr Vas Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis. He informed that with 6,000 employees, Novartis Hyderabad centre is the second largest for his company which is playing a pivotal role in bringing the latest innovations with the support of technology that could solve many problems of the world.

Vas announced the launch of 'Biome India', a digital innovation hub at its Hyderabad's centre, first time in Asia.

In the wake of Corona virus outbreak in China, a session on 'affordable innovations ' was organised. Dr Peter Piot, Director of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, highlighted the issues, challenges and opportunities involved in effectively handling the global health emergencies.

The industry stalwarts and eminent panelists including Dr Vas Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis, Switzerland, Dilip Shanghvi, MD, Sun Pharma, Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group and Jan Van Acker, president, Emerging Markets, Human Health, MSD Pharma and Shakthi Nagappan, CEO, BioAsia, Director, Telangana Life Sciences, also addressed the event.