Biosimilar Market To Cross $40 Billion In India By 2030

The market for biosimilars or the cheaper generic equivalent of biotech-based medicines mainly for treating life-threatening diseases such as cancer, will be more than $40 billion in India by the next 15 years. A new report released by industry lobby Assocham and its knowledge partner Sathguru Consultants on Thursday said that this segment offers $240 billion global opportunity for Indian drug industry by 2030.

With the introduction of a new regulatory policy in India and increased affordability that biosimilars offer, the domestic market is expected to grow at an accelerated pace, said the report released by D. Swaminadhan, president and director general, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies (JNIAS) at Hyderabad.

Indian biosimilars industry was close to $300 million in 2015 and the domestic sales are close to $250 million growing at an annual rate of 14 per cent. While, exports contributed close to $51 million. Biosimilars will command about 20 per cent share in global market, says the Assocham –Sathguru Report.

“The local market for biosimilars is intensely competitive and will continue to be so. While the number of Indian companies that finally establish a foothold in developed markets will only be few,” said Swaminathan while releasing the report.

While the Indian market itself will continue to have many players, the country needs to look at human resources in the biotech/bioPharma field, as a priority and needs to put in order and strengthen India’s regulatory agencies, systems and mechanisms, he added.

“The biosimilars opportunity is nascent today and a 2016 estimated market size was only $2.2 billlion. However, the recent US FDA approvals and market penetration stories emerging from Europe herald in the next phase of growth in biosimilars,” said Pushpa Vijayaraghavan, Director, Sathguru Management Consultants in her theme address highlighted the key findings of the Report.

Based on our analysis of the currently approved biologic drugs, clinical pipeline and expectations around price erosion and market penetration, she added. “We estimate that global market for biosimilars will be $240 billion by 2030 in the optimistic scenario and the Indian domestic market could be about $40 billion,” she said.

The report, however, highlighted that driving market expansion also calls for a collaborative effort from industry players as compared to the current strategy of going solo to market.

Indian industry itself provides great examples such in the case the DPP4 inhibitors for type 2 diabetes where marketing collaborations have been beneficially deployed to accelerate growth and product penetration, it said.