By Dr. Amal Mukhopadhyay

The Indian biotechnology industry is growing at record speed, both in terms of turnover and investments. While Indian biotech is recognized in the West  for high quality services, bioinformatics and manufacturing, it also offers great opportunities for conducting clinical trials and manufacturing of biosimilars. Only recently, European companies have started to realize that India also is a huge and receptive market for innovative drugs and medtech products.

With a consistent double digit growth rate throughout the last decade the Indian biotechnology industry has been recognized as a sun-rise industry not only in India but also globally. According to a survey based on inputs from over 150 biotech companies, conducted by  Biospectrum – Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises, Bangalore India  (2010-2011), the Indian biotechnology industry posted revenues of $ 2.9 billion, in spite of the global recession during 2009 and slow recovery during 2010. The total turnover is expected to reach $ 8.6 billion in 2015 with an anticipated annual growth rate of 30%.  » Read more...

On June 8, the Society of Investment Professionals in Germany (DVFA) and its Life Science Committee hosted its annual conference which this time focused on biosimilars. The event covered key scientific topics, regulatory pathways and commercial issues of the market.

While experts agreed that the US will soon follow the EU in establishing a regulatory pathway for filing and approval of biosimilars – with a few originator companies still taking rearguard actions – it is not yet evident whether biosimilars will conquer the markets simply because of lower prices. In many EU countries, there will be no automatic substitution as with small molecule generics so that doctors need to be convinced to prescribe a particular “branded” biosimilar.  » Read more...