Indian Pharma story !!!

Indian Pharma is likely to be in the top 10 global markets in value term  by 2020, according to the PwC – CII  report titled “India Pharma Inc: Gearing up for the next level of growth”.

The first pharmaceutical manufacturing company in India was started in 1930 in Kolkata (Calcutta) named as Bengal chemicals and pharmaceutical works which is still one of the 5 government owned company.

                                             

Indian pharmaceutical market has characteristic of brand generic domination i.e. around 70-80 % of retail market and low price level due to highly competitive market. India has globally 10^th rank in terms of value and 3^rd in terms of volumes. India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally and accounts for supplies over 50 % of global demand for various vaccines, 40 % of generic demand in the US and 25 % of all medicine in UK.

India has an important position in the global pharmaceuticals sector with large pool of talented scientists and engineers who have the potential to steer the industry ahead. Presently over 80 % of the antiviral drugs used globally to combat AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) are supplied by Indian pharmaceutical firms.

The pharma profession started in India simultaneously with inception in United Nation but the growth in India remained very slow. For almost half a century not much progress was noticed, until B.Pharm course was started in 1937 at Banaras Hindu University and in 1944 at the Punjab University, Lahore. The pharmacist plays a vital role and acts as a key chain between a physician and the patient. According to Drugs and Cosmetic Act and Pharmacy act, a pharmacist is must- anywhere and everywhere the medicine is there. Pharmacists are the only authorized professionals who can handle medicines at all levels. After a doctor, the pharmacists are the only professionals in the health sector who play key role in patient safety program, clinical research as well drug compounding and manufacturing. In India the pharma course is driven in the form D.Pharm, B.pharm, M.pharm and also Pharm.D. Student can opt for PhD.

In India there are more than 10, 00,000 (Ten Lakhs) registered pharmacists working in various positions contributing to the health of the nation. But hurdle took place when there is lack of proper respect and recognition of pharmacy teachers, pharmacist in hospitals and industries. They also lack in the step that B.Pharm must be preferential qualification for pharmacist but presently D.Pharm is the essential qualification. This demotivates the bachelor as well as master candidates to choose government pharmacist as a career. There is need to recognize their efforts and to rationalize their contribution toward healthcare.

Career prospective in Indian pharma precepts wide variety of field i.e. from manufacturing process to Information Technology. Indian pharma field provides multi angular professional diversity for the pharmacy students to choose their career as per their choice. Various fields are their like:                                                   
                           

·        Research and Development.

·         Pharmaceutical Production.

·         Quality analyst.

·         Packaging technology

·         Clinical research operation.

·         Clinical Data management, medical coding, medical writing.

·         Regulatory Affairs.

·         Pharmacovigilance (booming currently).

Students as well as in field professional should also focus on the technology trend which is bringing transition and also transforming the pharma operation at new level. Emerging data science and business analytics is helping healthcare sector to boost their sales as well as forming more safe therapeutics. It is also helping in understanding disease behavior which plays important role in the chronic disease management like diabetes, cancer, cardiac arrest. People should also focus learning some computer technology based program like R, Python, SAS. There are also career building field where pharma student can apply ie intellectual property right, Patent agent, and ISO agent.

Future Perception

As India is significant contributor towards world’s health care sector, Pharmaceutical industry has very good scope. Since India also ranks for the population there is also wide scope for clinical research industry. High burden of disease, good economic growth leading to higher disposable incomes, improvements in healthcare infrastructure and improved healthcare financing are driving growth in the domestic market. The Indian pharma industry has been growing at a annual growth rate of more than 15% over the last five years. However, for the industry to sustain this robust growth rate till 2020, companies will have to rethink their business strategy.