Indian Pharma Firms Trail Global Peers In R&D, Innovation, Talent Metrics: Report

Indian pharmaceutical firms are falling behind their global counterparts across key performance indicators, including R&D intensity, the proportion of PhD employees, and the number of patents and publications generated per billion USD of revenue, according to a report by the Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology (Fast India) in collaboration with IIFL Securities.

The largest disparity was observed in the number of publications per billion USD revenue, with global firms producing 8.4 times more publications than Indian firms, the report noted.

Global firms generated 5.6 times more patents and 8.4 times more publications per billion USD of revenue compared to Indian firms. In terms of Research and Development (R&D) intensity, global firms outperformed Indian firms by a factor of 3.0, the report added.

The report also highlighted that Indian pharmaceutical companies are performing better in the patents-to-revenue parameter than in the publications-to-revenue parameter, with four Indian firms ranking among the top ten for patents by revenue.

American multinational pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly ranked first overall for R&D intensity and third for the proportion of PhD employees, the report said. Among Indian firms, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories ranked first in both R&D intensity (10.3 per cent) and the proportion of PhD employees (0.97 per cent).

Bengaluru-based Biocon ranked first among Indian firms for publications per billion USD revenue and third overall. Sun Pharmaceuticals ranked first among Indian firms for patents by revenue and third overall, with 636 patents per billion USD of revenue, surpassing many global and Indian firms, according to the report.

The Indian pharmaceutical sector contributes 1.72 per cent to the country's GDP, with around 3,000 companies and over 10,563 industrial units as of 2021.

Fast India further noted that policy reforms introduced during liberalisation, such as amendments to the Patents Act, the allowance of FDI, and the introduction of Production Linked Incentives (PLIs), have established India as a global leader in drug manufacturing.

India is currently the third-largest drug producer by volume and supplies 20 per cent of the global generic drug market. In the 2022 financial year, Indian pharmaceutical exports, including bulk drugs, intermediates, formulations, and biologicals, amounted to USD 23.5 billion. (ANI)