 "pharma sector")
As the battle for the White House is heading for a photo finish, Indian pharma industry veterans point out that the election outcome is unlikely to have any significant impact on the local pharmaceutical players.
The prime reason is while the US, just like other countries, is trying to lessen dependence on imports for essential drugs, the Indian industry feels they are likely to take a balanced approach when it comes to sourcing.
Veterans like Cadila Healthcare Chairman Pankaj Patel and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Chairman Satish Reddy said it was too early to comment.
According to Uday Bhaskar, director general of the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), Indian generic drugs are at least 30-40 per cent cheaper than the ones made in the US or sourced from regulated markets in Europe. Of the $60-70-billion generic drug market in the US, India’s value share is not very high, even though it has a high-volume share, Bhaskar said.
Indian imports roughly account for $10 billion in value terms. In volume terms, Indian generic drug makers almost have a 40 per cent share of the US market. It is said one in every three pills sold in the US is made by an Indian firm.
“If the US would look at reducing import dependence for essential medicines, the first target is unlikely to be India. It would rather try to reduce imports from Europe, which supplies more expensive medicines,” said a pharma industry insider.
Sudarshan Jain, secretary-general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), said imports from India allow an annual savings of around $83 million to the US exchequer. He said Indian players have also invested close to $4-5 billion in the US market over the past six years.
IPA represents the country’s top drug makers, which together account for 85 per cent of India’s pharma exports.
“Localised manufacturing would be a common theme for all countries as the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the need to have control over essential drugs. How the trade relationships between India and China would evolve would depend more on geopolitical developments and not so much on the Presidential elections,” Jain said. Further, as every major country, including the US, is trying to diversify its sources of drugs and raw material (apart from China), India may end up being a beneficiary.
Recently, Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in a tweet said there was an opportunity for India to become a ‘key and pivotal part’ of the global pharma supply chain, especially with the re-alignment of pharma supply chains from China. China has dominated the world when it comes to bulk drug supplies, and India can be very competitive if it invests in scale, experts said.
US President Donald Trump had tried to boost local production of essential medicines in August. He had directed executive departments to identify vulnerabilities in supply chains for essential drugs and create a list of crucial medical products. He also wanted to fast-track the regulatory clearances for domestic producers to make these products. Trump had touted hydroxychloroquine as a wonder drug for Covid-19, and India is the largest producer of the drug in the world.
Indian players such as Sun Pharma and Lupin have large-scale manufacturing plants in the US too. Firms like Cipla participate in the government tender business through their US subsidiaries.
