Indian pharma should look beyond generics

Players need to step up investment in newer areas such as specialty drugs and biosimilars

The generics segment isn’t quite the goose it once was, or so the trend in the pharmaceuticals industry appears to suggest. Between 2004 and 2014, the global generics industry logged a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 per cent in revenue. But the steam ran out in 2015 and 2016, and growth plunged to 6 per cent.

The impact was particularly severe for Indian generics players, who saw growth plummet to 2 per cent in the last two years, compared with a staggering 23 per cent in the preceding decade. There are many reasons why growth is unlikely to