Indian pharma industry may gain $18.4 bn from global mkt

With the global pharmaceutical market likely to witness products worth 123 billion dollars loosing patents by 2012, the generics driven

Indian drugs industry could get benefit of around 18.4 billion dollars (about Rs 91,576 crore) from those products.

According to a report of an inter-ministerial task force headed by a Joint Secretary of the Commerce Ministry, at a conservative estimate of 15 per cent opportunity, India can garner 18.4 billion dollars of all the drugs that would go off patent in the next three years.

"Approximately $ 123 billion worth of products are at risk of loosing patents by 2012. Even at a conservative estimate of 15 per cent opportunity, this translates into 18.4 billion dollars opportunity for India," the report said.

To cash in on the opportunity, it said intense science, good understanding of patents and manufacturing to the stringent requirements of access regime are key requirements for future success.

Generic drugs are copies of branded products which have lost their patents and comes at much cheaper price.

According to Pharmaceuticals Exports Promotion Council, total exports in December surged by 46.3 per cent to 1.01 billion dollars from 609 million dollars in the same month of the previous fiscal.

The overseas sales in the first nine months of 2008-09 went up by 21 per cent to 8.44 billion dollars against 6.97 billion dollars in 2007-08.

India's main pharma export destinations are the US, Europe, South Africa, Brazil and Canada.

The report further said that India and China could potentially account for 35 per cent to 40 per cent of the outsourced market share for active pharmaceutical ingredients, finished dosage formulations and intermediates.