Dr Tausif Monif, vice president, clinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetics, Ranbaxy Laboratories feels that both generics and alternate models in drug discovery are relevant today. He said, "There are tremendous opportunities in generic space and we have to continue exploring. Apart from that, the future also holds great promise in oral drug discovery. Better efficiency and patient compliance are the beneficial points."

Echoing similar sentiments, Dr YK Gupta, head, pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) believes that the drying pipelines are a real matter of concern. He feels that innovation has to come right from the foundation level of education system. "In India, the translation is miniscule. The number of innovation centres at the universities need to be increased along with accountability too. Pharmacovigilance, which is a part of the MBBS curriculum that was approved by Medical Council of India (MCI) needs to be implemented," added Dr Gupta.

Trying hand at alternate models
Many believe that the existing models of research and development require a makeover. According to Dr Viraj Suvarna, medical director, Boehringer Ingelheim India, "The competitive collaboration is the need of the future. The essential thing here is not the product being best, rather than that the best part would be the reach and availability to the patients. The tie ups between the potential customers can also be a reality if it is realized by the companies."

"Strategic alliance, innovative technology and working exclusively with the government to provide the primary healthcare is very important. We have to consider the three A's and these are affordability, acceptability and availability," added Mr Arun Sahwney, CEO, Ranbaxy, who strongly opines that biotech and vaccine industry are going to be a very important part of this exercise.

Providing a comprehensive picture of what is going inside the industry, Dr Swapan Bhattacharya, managing director, TCG Life Sciences, said, "Most of the companies are facing generic cliff. At the same time a lot of licensing is also happening. While the big biopharma companies are trying to license late stage molecules, the smaller ones are entering into contract research and there is no doubt that these CROs are playing a role in development and hence, important in their cost-effectiveness."