'Gujarat can be pharma hub'

Riding on an established infrastructure, linkages with raw material suppliers and a legacy of 100 years, the Gujarat pharma industry could well be the global hub for generics, R&D and contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) in the coming years.

According to a KPMG report, Gujarat has the potential to attract global pharma companies to set up their bases in generics, R&D and CRAMS.

Celebrating the centenary year, Gujarat-based pharma companies agreed upon more investments in stem cell research, novel biologicals, nanobiotechnology and medical devices, apart from developing academic alliance.

The centenary celebrations encapsulated the past, present and future of the industry, its growth and achievements.

The industry also felicitated nine of the pharma stalwarts including Alembic Limited's founder BD Amin, Vikram Sarabhai of Sarabhai Chemicals, Ramanlal Patel of Zydus Cadila, Uttamlal Nathalal Mehta of the Torrent Group and Indravadan Modi of Cadila Pharma.

During a CEO panel discussion, representatives of leading pharma companies in Gujarat conceded that both generics and R&D for innovative drugs will be the future.

"There are companies who are set to be leaders in generics and then there are companies like Sun Pharma that have embarked on major research programmes to develop innovative drugs. Gujarat will see a simultaneous growth in all these kinds of pharma companies given the need and demand," said Pankaj Patel, chairman and managing director of Zydus Cadila Healthcare Limited.

Speaking at the centenary celebrations, chief minister Narendra Modi said that since monopolistic market brings stagnancy, pharma companies will have to develop a healthy competitive environment to work within.

"The future, as far as I can see, lies in biotechnology and nanotechnology that are more likely to influence the pharma industry," he added.

Gujarat is considered to be the first state to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms (FDFs) in India, manufacture pharmaceutical machinery, lead the way with clinical research organisations and become the first to undertake pre-clinical safety and toxicology studies in the country.