MAKING OUT OF INDIA

Pharmaceutical players will set up plants in major markets, go for more automation and focus on digital marketing

- P.B. Jayakumar

Rajesh Raghavan, a medical representative with a mid-sized pharmaceutical company in Mumbai, no longer travels in local trains or visits crowded alleys to meet doctors. Locked down in his small flat in Navi Mumbai, Raghavan’s main job now is to convince doctors for a Zoom meeting with his company’s medical director and team. What’s more, doctors are also happy to listen to the director about the latest medical innovations, besides discussing the advantages of the blood pressure drug that Raghavan has to market. “I was struggling to meet a dozen doctors earlier, now I am able to get in touch with an average 20 doctors a day,” he says.

According to industry leaders, fundamentals of the biopharmaceutical industry, built over decades, are changing post coronavirus. Manufacturing, supply chain management, doctor-patient interactions, research and development (R&D), regulatory hurdles – everything is undergoing a transformation.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shah, Executive Chairman of Bangalore-based Biocon, with experience of over 45 years in biopharma research, says fundamental changes are bound to happen in healthcare post-corona, especially in scientific innovations. “Public health is likely to get priority, from the government, private sector and investor community,” she says.

Umang Vora, Managing Director and Global CEO, Cipla, says the pandemic will redefine ways in which drug manufacturers engage with stakeholders, focus more on self-reliance and embrace new technologies.

“Now it is natural for drugmakers to ‘over-emphasise changes in the near-term’ which will definitely happen, but the change will be gradual over time,” says Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin.