Karun Rishi, President, USA-India Chamber of Commerce, organized a US-India Biotech Summit on May 7, 2007. The keynote speaker for the evening was Dr. M.K. Bhan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The two panel discussions focused on Discovery, Development, IP and Regulatory Issues, and Investment Opportunities, Cross Border Investments and M&A Trends in the Life Sciences Industry.

“India has excellent scientists who can deliver given the recipe. However, currently the innovative end is not developed and thus not integrated. India does not really do medicinal chemistry,” said Dr. Peter Muller, Chief Scientific Officer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Besides, Indian training in chemistry is much stronger than in biology. Dr. Arun Chandavarkar, COO, Biocon Ltd., talked about the need to increase the deal sizes rather than number of deals in order to increase the skill base. “Discovery will not happen just for the sake of science and cannot happen without the culture of product commercialization,” said Chandavarkar. Dr. Sridhar Mosur, MD, Jubilant Chemsys Ltd., talked emphasized the need for scaling and new discoveries. Bio Tech Parks are great but they meet the needs during the post discovery phase. Every one on the panel agreed that for India to make a mark in this area, it needs to move from development of new processes to development of new molecules and emphasize research and development.

India is not an attractive opportunity for venture capitalists in the biotechnology area at this time as most Indians are not willing to give up a majority stake in return (5% of a company is not good enough for a VC), large investment opportunities are limited and start-ups are few. Other concerns raised by the panelists for lack of direct investments include lack of plan-control structure-governance, world class science, indigenous group of Indian VCs and local investors to invest with. For Indian companies to play in the world market, they need to act/behave like a global company and raise money. However, they also agreed that India has unlimited potential and with quickness and transparency, it will be a major player.

“For human well being and increasing life expectancy with quality, it is necessary to reduce the cost of medicines. Globalization is one driving force towards this end,” said Bhan. According to him, India has problems at two levels – people and institutions. “Most of today’s graduates are suited for academics. We need to fine tune them towards discovery and innovation,” said Bhan. Secondly, it currently cost about $400,000 per scientist in the US. The government is willing to work with industry to design innovative educational programs that will create the kind of people it needs. In order for India to succeed in this arena, it needs three things: scientific leadership, completeness of skill profile and critical scientific mass in small and medium sized companies. This involves public private partnerships. In the end, it is not the success of a company but the creation of an eco system.

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