Indian biotech therapeutic products will contribute significantly to the pharmaceutical market globally with major contributions to developing countries, said Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Cadila) President Dr. P.K. Ghosh at a national conference on bio-business opportunities in India organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Mumbai on 14 th November 2005.

However, with only a six per cent market share and sales of a mere $0.3 billion in the global therapeutic pie, the only way India could prepare itself to catch up to North America, with a market share of 62 per cent, is for Indian pharma majors to form alliances with leading biotech institutes, said pharma experts.

"Discovery of blockbuster drugs is very expensive. Institutes and industry should plan jointly to develop technologies that would be the prime drivers for establishing a global mark. The emerging scenario in India is moving towards this direction, though a little slowly. We also need more funds from the government," added Dr Ghosh.

"Indian pharma industries are immature in dealing with academia, while academia cannot understand deadlines set by industry," said Dr Vidita Vaidya from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

"The problem with MoUs between the two is agreeing on intellectual property rights. Indian academics would be thrilled to have their work featured in a foreign scientific journal, rather than see their research products in the Indian market," he added.

( www.checkbiotech.org)