'Pvt investment in biopharma needs govt risk-sharing'

India’s bioeconomy has expanded more than sixteen-fold over the past decade, rising from $10 billion to more than $165 billion in 2024, and is projected to exceed $300 billion by 2030.

- Rajesh Jain, chairman of the CII National Committee on Biotechnology and chairman and MD of Panacea Biotec, speaks to Manu Kaushik

Biopharma accounts for over 35% of the total, with companies increasingly focusing on biologics, biosimilars and cell and gene therapies, alongside traditional vaccines—a segment where India remains a global leader.lagged government funding. What enabling factors are needed to catalyse private investment?

The issue is straightforward. Companies that can invest will do so from their own balance sheets. The real question is how to encourage companies that are already investing in R&D to step up their spending.

This is where government involvement becomes critical. R&D investments do not always yield results, and companies are unlikely to commit billions of dollars unless they have some assurance that a portion of that investment can be recovered. One solution could be consortium-based models, where industry, government and academia pool resources to drive innovation.

These efforts can take decades to bear fruit, which means sustained investment from like-minded companies in areas with national and global relevance. Expecting every company to independently invest heavily in R&D is simply unrealistic.

Biopharma manufacturing is heavily skewed toward vaccines. Do you see other segments gaining share?