Dubbed as The Bio Pharma event in the world focused on US-India Life Sciences and Healthcare,  the USA-India Chamber of Commerce’s annual US-India BioPharma Summit 2008, held at Hyatt Cambridge, Boston, MA on June 13th, attracted over 350 senior bio, pharma, medical devices and healthcare professionals.

Prominent among them were Dr. William Chin, Vice President of Discovery Research at Eli Lilly, Jim Mullen, CEO of Biogen Idec, GV Prasad, CEO of Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Venkat Jasti, CEO of Suven, Josh Boger, CEO, Vertex Pharma and Chairman of BIO, Dr. Mark Powell, Senior Vice President and Worldwide head Pharma Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, Jeff Elton, Chief Operating Officer- Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research and Rod MacKenzie, Sr. Vice President Worldwide Research- Pfizer and Barbara Yanni, Chief Licensing Officer, Merck & Co.

Leading investors like Frederick Frank of Lehman Brothers, Helmut Schuhsler of TVM Capital, Alexandria, OrbiMed, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Kliener Perkins participated. Senior academicians from Harvard Medical School, Boston University, MIT and Tufts Medical School were there in good strength. Over 40 leading and emerging companies from India participated.

In his keynote address, India’s Minister for Science & Technology, Kapil Sibal, vehemently put across the concept of an emerging intellectual property regime in India that would not only uphold the interests of indulging pharmaceutical companies but shall also match their investment on a 50:50 basis to built an environment to develop collaborative initiatives to mutual benefits in the field of agriculture, marine and health sciences. Sibal said the challenge was to develop highest quality drugs at the lowest cost. It is important to device different business models as the current models do not work.

Sibal emphasized on novel discovery efforts to meet the need of locals that would pave the road for international success, citing "Nano car" as the prototypical example for his three point mantra- accessibility, affordability and world class quality. He described the ideology of scientific achievement across different nations as a symbiotic ecosystem and not delimited by geographical boundaries. With an open invitation to US companies to shred inhibitions and a promise to offer a congenial fertile environment encouraging public-private partnership, Mr. Sibal effectively conveyed the idea stimulating the minds of many corporate heads.


Dr. Surinder Singh, Drug Controller General of India, in his keynote address talked about implementation of an advanced "e governance drug regulatory system in India". This electronic system, unique of its kind, is currently being developed with intense support from the Indian IT sector to suit the Indian context, following closer understanding of the functioning of its equivalent counterparts in the world- WHO, Health Canada and FDA. This digitalized and interactive portal is being seen as a revolutionary change to centralize the regulatory system and running clinical trials in India ensuring transparency and accountability at all levels.

Dr. Singh emphasized on an inbuilt feature for spontaneous and random check by health inspectors to ensure the unmet need for quality and ethical standards that would be central to the system. On being questioned about the competence of panel deciding the fate of a drug, Dr Singh assured an impartial and independent panels integrating diverse expertise will be incorporated including academia, medicine, industry and government. Besides, answering to other questions, Dr. Singh was optimistic about its success that is instrumental to eventually convince investment even from the private sector. The central philosophy is aimed at cutting short of delay for the entry of drugs through a centralized single register.

 In his opening remarks, Karun Rishi, President of the USA-India Chamber of Commerce, said: “Innovation and funding innovation will get a big boost from this Summit. Collaborative Research and strategic alliances will be the key forces deriving the business.” He encouraged the US companies to expedite and expand their partnerships in India. In business, time is a crucial factor. Early starters will have an edge over their competitors.  Urging Government of India to improve the infrastructure, Rishi said, “Infrastructure is a common issue limiting the growth of any industry. Sooner India creates world class roads, airports, buildings, 24x7 water supply and electricity, the faster will be the economic impact not only on the industry but for the common man.” He urged the Indian academic institutions to partner with the US biopharma industry to learn, share, expand capacity and commercialize innovation. Rishi’s advice to the Indian industry was to approach globalization as a strategic priority, irrespective of the size of the company.

Position Papers prepared by McKinsey & Company for the USA-India Chamber of Commerce was officially released by Kapil Sibal. Titled ‘Thought Starters to Spur US-India BioPharma Collaboration’, the report suggested 10 ideas to take the US-India Life Sciences and healthcare business to the next level. Thought starters to drive the growth in the report are:  Acelerate Indian acquisition of subscale US Pharma and Biotech companies; Enhance value of MNC’s mature portfolio; Facilitate collaborative partnerships with Indian companies to improve market access for MNC drugs; Roll up subscale Indian companies or brands; Develop biologics capability in India; Substantially increase scale and quality of discovery innovation in India; Create large for-profit institutions to better train India’s biopharma talent; Maximize use of India as a base for R&D support services; Increase pharma research at Indian academic institutions; And, Develop a drug from research to NDA for $100 million

McKinsey and Company conducted in depth interviews with senior policy makers, industry leaders and investors to prepare the report.  During a lively discussion on ‘Funding innovation and Cross Border M&A Trends’, Frederick Frank, Vice Chairman of Lehman Brothers commented: Most Pharma companies need to introduce more than 3 new products a year to maintain growth. Given current pipeline and associated costs, there is no chance of this happening. Said Frank: Biotech companies are good in research whereas pharma companies are good in manufacturing and marketing.

During discussions in the ‘Drug Discovery and Collaborative Research’ panel, Dr. Chin of Eli Lilly emphasized that “Partners need to understand each other, share risk and reward. Commented Dr. Peter Muller of Vertex Pharma– “Collaborative research is not outsourcing but in sourcing of bright minds to solve the most complex problems.”

Venkat Jasti CEO of Suven and Chairman Pharmexcil urged the Indian government to set up specific panels to expedite the application approval process. Added Jasti, Academics institutions should speed up training of students in chemistry and Biology as “disease is complex”.

Just as Kamal Nath, India’s Minister of Commerce & Industry,  stated that India is ‘Partner of Choice’ in the life sciences area globally. The result oriented work being done by the USA-India Chamber of Commerce to promote and facilitate biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and healthcare business and investments between the two countries is laudable.

USA-India Chamber of Commerce is actively encouraging emerging and innovation based US life science companies to forge strategic alliances with India companies. Collaborative research and strategic alliances will be the key forces driving the business growth in the 21st century said Karun Rishi. We are helping create an ecosystem where all stakeholders can bring their collective knowledge, ideas and energy to foster affordable innovation. US-India BioPharma Summit organized annually by the Chamber is an ideal platform to learn, share and discuss for all the stakeholders: Industry, Investors, Academia and Policy Makers.

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