Singapore: The Indian Department of Commerce is showcasing the achievement of the country's pharmaceutical sector at the 'Brand India Pharma' show in the Tokyo fair.

The three-day show, Interphex and Inpharma trade show in Tokyo provides a platform for over 100 Indian companies to connect with the Japanese market and showcase manufacturing and research capabilities of the country's pharmaceutical industry.

The Indian government, in a bid to highlight the value proposition that the country's pharma sector presents to the global market, has come up with this campaign.

The Indian Commerce Secretary, Mr Rajeev Kher, led the country's delegation to the trade exhibition. Mr Habil Khorakiwala, Chairman of Wockhardt headed the industry delegation, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said in a news statement.

"Given the heavy pressure on the health requirements, especially its ageing population, Japan, which is a USD 119 billion market, of which generics constitute 11 percent, decided to enlarge its generics portfolio. Japan represents an opportunity for the Indian pharmaceutical industry," it explained.

FICCI further added, "Under India's Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Japan, which is a conscious agreement to mutually increase cooperation in the pharma sector, Japan has extended national treatment to Indian companies."

"This new dimension of India's strategy coincides with developments in Japan. Given the heavy pressure on the health requirements, especially its aging population, Japan, which is a $119 billion market, of which generics constitute 11 percent, has decided to enlarge its generics portfolio. Japan today represents an opportunity for the Indian pharmaceutical industry. India's CEPA with Japan, which is a conscious agreement to mutually increase cooperation in the pharma sector, an element of this is the fact that Japan has extended national treatment to Indian companies," the statement added.

The statement cited, that India with a 35 percent share, ranks the highest in terms of filings of (Drug Master File) DMF filed with USFDA. As much as 25 percent of the manufacturing sites registered with EDQM are from India.

Mr Rajeev Kher said that India is rebranding itself as not only the pharmacy to the world, but also the "responsible health care giver" to the world.

He added that Indian medicines are not only affordable and of top quality meeting the regulatory requirement of the toughest regulatory markets in US and EU, but now include all the arms of the health care, generics, innovator drugs, medical equipments, vaccines, surgical and non-surgical interventions in state of art hospitals. He mentioned, "India is doing cutting edge work in biologics and biotechnology as well as nanotechnology." He also said that in terms of drug discovery and R&D spend, "India figures amongst world`s top three countries."

In his keynote speech, he explained that, "There is a win-win possibility for both India and Japan in pharma cooperation."