'Pharma industry wants slew of sops to shore up production'

Is India's pharma industry in a position to cope with the growing demand for the medicines and drugs required to provide treatment to the corona patients?

Pharmaceutical companies in India have been at the forefront to combat COVID-19 and the pharma industry is gearing up on all fronts to ensure the adequate manufacturing and availability of all the essential medicines to fight coronavirus.

Why the scarcity of important drugs like Remedisvir injections? Why are we not able to ensure that necessary quantity was made available in the country.

There are various reasons behind the scarcity of Remedisivir injections. Firstly, there was a steep fall in the demand for the injection post first wave of Covid as a result the companies reduced the production. During second wave, lack of vigil on the part of the Governments and healthcare system to ensure enough stockpiling led to black marketing.

What does the pharma industry expect from Telangana Government and the Union Government to increase the production of Covid related drugs?

The GoI has already taken important steps by proposing an incentive package of Rs. 13.76 billion for the promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials, drug intermediates, APIs and medical devices to combat the Covid.

The Pharma Industry expects from the Central and State Government to provide speedy approvals for pharmaceutical infrastructure developments, fast clearances from environment ministry, tax exemptions, incentives and subsidies for setting up and ramping up the production capacity.

Is Hyderabad equipped well to manufacture the vaccines required for the entire country? What challenges is the industry facing?

No, at present only two Indian manufacturers Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech are producing about 70 million doses a month right now. The country, however, needs around 90 million doses every month to ensure the vaccination drive continues without a glitch. Bharat Biotech, the lone Indian company from Telengana with exclusive manufacturing rights of Covaxin, is also struggling to cater to the growing demand and increase its production capacity. Though vaccines like Sputnik and Cadilla are coming, it will take time meet the demand.

The demand for skilled workers in the pharma industry is growing. What measures should be taken to have workers with skill levels on part with international standards?

Sustained growth of Life Sciences sector requires addressing skill shortage across levels and functional areas. Over the next 10 years, an estimated 3.5 million will need to be trained particularly in areas like quality control, sales/ marketing etc.

We must strive to set transnational benchmarks and standards.