The Right Prescription
The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry is poised for tremendous growth over the next decade?

Pratiksha Singh
New Delhi, July 19: With the advent of endless career options available in the medical sector, one does not need to put in seven years in a medical college to become a part of the fast-paced pharmaceutical sector in India. People having diverse interests and skills will find their calling in this sector with a range of careers to choose from. Right from database and information management, to data analysis and from research and development to  fields like drug discovery, chemistry and pharmacology; all are viable options one can choose his/her pick from.

The Indian pharmaceutical market has grown by about 10% per cent over the years to become a $12 billion opportunity by the end of the financial year 2009. According to the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India, the Indian pharmaceutical market is slated to grow to $25 billion (Rs 111,413 crore) by the end of the year 2015. New product launches by domestic pharmaceutical giants have also proved to be a boon for the growth of the sector. Over the last two years, as many as 3,900 new products have been launched in India. According to a study conducted by the India Brand Equity Foundation; the area of generic drug manufacturing will be a major driver of growth in the future. India is set to capture a large portion of the market by leveraging its inherent strengths in technology, research and development facilities and trained human capital.

India offers a range of advantages to global majors including  cheaper research, large and skilled work force that is conversant in IT and also is not as expensive as skilled labour in developed countries, favourable policy structure and FDA approved manufacturing facilities. Incidentally, India also has the highest number of plants approved by the FDA outside the US, which shows we have adequate infrastructure to be able to take on the global competition. In addition to these, high capital efficiency, lower filing costs and better engineering processes are also making India a favourable destination for global players that want to offload part of their production processes onto cheaper markets.

For instance, setting up a plant in India is 40 per cent cheaper compared to any other developed country. Labour costs are phenomenally low here and so are costs of physical facilities as well. The cost of bulk drug production is also lower by 60-70 per cent, which is also the reason why a large number of international players are now outsourcing a part of the process of drug discovery and research or molecule development to India. Moreover, out of the 20 big global players in the sector, 15 already are actively present  in India. Thus, the country is fast becoming a hub for international pharmaceutical giants enabling them to carry out their  research and development activities here-this is also being reflected in the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) boom, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector and is also expected  to scale up under the new patent regime.  Companies such as Roche, Bayer, Aventis and Chiron are planning to make India as their regional hub for active pharmaceutical ingredients and supplies of bulk drugs. Glaxo-SmithKline has signed up a drug discovery alliance with Ranbaxy, Pfizer, Novartis and Eli Lilly. Globally, this contract manufacturing is estimated to be a $30 billion (Rs 133,502 crore) opportunity growing at 10-12 per cent per annum.

To further provide an impetus to this favourable environment, the government has also announced a number of initiatives like exemption from import licenses to foreign pharmaceutical units plying in special economic zones.

An Ernst and Young study has identified India as an emerging centre for collaborative and outsourced research and development in drug development, biotechnology and chemicals. Interestingly, while in developed countries, chronic therapies account for more than two thirds of the market;  in India it is acute therapies that make up to 60 per cent of the business. However, with changing lifestyles the market will grow in the direction of chronic therapies like diabetes and heart diseases as well. Furthermore, India's per capita  expenditure on drugs is just $8 (Rs 356) per annum whereas it is around $170 (Rs 7,565) in the US. This is because healthcare is inaccessible for almost 70 per cent of the population in villages. Out of place Pharmacy as a career:

Globalisation has helped in bringing several countries together into a single -pharmaceutical market. There are around 2.86 million jobs  in the pharmaceutical industry alone in India.  Pfizer, Ranbaxy, Cipla, Nicholas Piramal and Glaxo are some of the top recruiters in the pharmaceutical industry.

One can opt for any of the following options  after completing a specialised course in Pharmacy:

• Pharmacist – Health-system Pharmacist,  Hospital Pharmacist or Community Pharmacist.
• Medical Sales Representative
• Pharmacy consultant
• Analytical Chemist or  Quality Control Manager
• Medical Transcription  Exceutive
• Quality Assurance Health Manager
• Career in Regulatory bodies like Food and Drug Administration
• Teaching

Where and How to get in:
There are various programs in pharmacy offered by several institutions in India at undergraduate (B Pharm), postgraduate (M Pharm) and PhD level. Minimum eligibility for being a pharmacist is to have passed 10+2 or equivalent examination with physics, chemistry, maths and/or biology. Admission at most of the institutions offering pharmacy courses is based on the entrance exams - AIEEE for degree courses and GATE for masters.

A few  institutes offering programs in pharmacy include:

• Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi
• Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research, Pushp Vihar, Sector III, New Delhi
• University Instt. of Pharm. Sciences, (Formerly Deptt. of Pharmaceutical Sciences), Punjab University, Chandigarh
• University Deptt. of Chemical Tech., University of Mumbai
• MET Institute of Medical Sciences
• Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Pune
• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies
• IT-BHU, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
• Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi
• University of Calcutta