A national innovation system for pharma

A world-beating pharmaceutical industry built on innovation is within reach if we make the changes needed in our firms, public research and regulation

Part one of this article (Business Standard, May 18, 2023) argued that in building an effective national innovation system, we should learn from the most successful economic development stories of the last 70 years: In Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and China. “Each followed a sequence in building innovation capacity…. of a competitive industry followed by deepening technical sophistication followed by in-house R&D followed by public research…” Our best bet for a world-beating industry built on innovation is in pharmaceuticals, the one industry where we come close to world levels of investment in R&D. What does it take to get