The USA-India Chamber of commerce held a one day US-India BioPharma and Heathcare summit on at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MA  on May 14 2009. At its core the summit tried to bring together different stakeholders from the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industires both in India and the US in an attempt to build cross border partnerships that would be beneficial to all parties.

"We are meeting at a time when both the economy and the industry are going through a challenging moment. Credit and liquidity problem is affecting large and emerging companies in the United States and India. This is the time to fine tune  R & D strategies to survive and grow in India" says Karun Rishi President of the USA-India Chamber of Commerce."Department of Biotechnology and Department of Pharmaceuticals in India have been in the forefront of capacity building in the BioPharma. India's initiative to become innovation hub of 2020 is a bold initiative. It is feasible and realistic provided all stakeholders work together to fulfill this goal. USA-India Chamber of Commerce is willing to work as a partner to make this happens.

McKinsey released  a position paper on the health care industry in India. Notwithstanding the current global economic crisis, India's pharmaceutical industry and its health care market are expected to grow rapidly in the next few years.With average household consumption expected to increase by more than 7 per cent per annum, the annual healthcare expenditure is projected to grow at 10 per cent and also the number of insured is likely to jump from 100 million to 220 million.    

Further hospital beds are expected to double from 1.5 per thousand to 2.9 per thousand and the diagnostic laboratories to grow by 20 to 25 per cent. There will be an addition of 3,00,000 to 4,00,000 doctors and another 2,50,000 to 3,00,000 nurses.The McKinsey report said there would be rise in prevalence of chronic diseases - congestive heart disease, diabetes, asthma and obesity would see double digit growth.     

The summit featured panels on Academic Partnerships, Cross Border investments  and M&A trends and Drug Discovery, Development and Collaborative research.

Martin Mackay , President of Pfizer, Noble Laureate Dr. Sidney Altman and  Paresh Johri Deputy Secretary Government of India presented keynote addresses.  Dr Barry R. Bloom the founder of the Public Health Foundation of India was honored for his great contribution to the field. James Mullen , President and CEO of Biogen Idec presented the closing remarks.

The summit was very informative and it is hoped that new partnerships are formed that will benefit healthcare around the world.

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