Gujarat Pharmaceutical Industry

Biz@India

January-February 2017

Pharmatech Process Equipments established in 1986 as a group company of Pharmalab for designing and manufacturing process equipments for pharmaceuticals plants

Growing ease of doing business has shaped Gujarat into one of the most favoured destinations globally for pharmaceutical investments. With introduction of various initiatives and a strong hold in medicine and biotechnology stratum, Gujarat has emerged as a pharmaceutical hub in India.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry has experienced a significant stretch in the past few years. It is at present on a high growth trail, increasingly blending with the global industry and accounting for about 2.4 pc of the global pharmaceutical industry in value terms and 10 pc in volume terms. The sector increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13 pc over the last decade and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22 pc to reach USD 55 billion by 2020.

If this remains the case, by 2020, India will become the sixth largest market globally, which currently accounts for 20 pc of global exports in generics and is also the largest provider of generic medicines globally. Five percent of the world’s vaccines are manufactured in India and the country also exports medicines to more than 220 nations worldwide. In fact, every third pill sold in the US is manufactured in India, and Gujarat is a major contributor to all these figures.

Gujarat – leading the way

Gujarat’s pharmaceutical drive started in the early 20th century, with the establishment of India’s second oldest drug company, the Alembic Chemicals Works Co Ltd, in Vadodara city in 1907. And since then, the state has been undergoing a significant transformation with a turnover of USD 6.7 billion in 2015-16 and USD 3.06 billion for exports.

In the last 10 years, Gujarat has witnessed a speedy economic growth and owing to extensive industrialisation, the state’s economy grew by an average of 10 pc every year between 2004 and 2012, which is above the Indian average of around 8.25 pc. Gujarat is now distinguished amongst the booming states in India and aims at becoming a model state on all fronts of human development. At the same time, with substantial advances in science and technology, the research-based pharmaceutical industry has been entering an exciting new era in medicines development.

Over the years, Gujarat’s pharmaceutical sector has become innovation-driven, currently providing employment to around 85,000 people, with an aim to attract global opportunities and become a global pharmaceutical hub. The industry offers huge investment opportunities in the manufacturing of recombinant DNA-based products, intermediates, fine chemicals, medical devices, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), oncology products, biopharmaceuticals, Ayurvedic and homeopathic preparations and cosmetic products, along with investment possibilities in retail and pharmacy chains as well.

The state has four clusters dedicated to the pharmaceutical industry – one in Ahmedabad, dedicated to formulations, APIs, biologicals and contract manufacturing; Vadodara cluster, which is dedicated to manufacturing formulations and biogenerics; Bharuch and Ankleshwar cluster, dedicated for APIs, formulations and vaccines, and Valsad cluster, for formulations, APIs, device and diagnostics. Apart from these arrays, the state also houses various well-known medical companies like Sun Pharma, Zydus Cadila, Torrent Pharma, Intas, Dishman, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Claris and Glenmark, among many others.

Gujarat is also an established manufacturing base for bulk drugs and formulations. As a leader in pharmaceuticals manufacturing in India, the state manufactures and exports different dosage forms including generic drugs, intricate vaccines, r-DNA products, cytotoxic drugs, external preparations, sex hormone drugs, small and large volume parenteral, APIs, hi-tech cardiac stents and bio-pharma products, with major export destinations being the US, the European Union, the UK, Russia, Australia, African countries and the Far East.

80-90 pc of vaccines in India are packaged in Schott Kaisha

Aiming to secure a major boost

The government of Gujarat has aided its pharmaceutical industry with the introduction of several policy decisions and initiatives, including promotion of generic drugs by giving them preference in government purchases, establishment of National Institute for Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) for Human Resource Development, launching the Gujarat Genomics Initiative, establishing Genetic Diagnostic centres and Gene Banks, and introducing IT applications for issuance of sales license and product license implemented by the Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA).

Along with these initiatives, the state government also plans to develop three landmark parks in Gujarat – API Park, Formulations Park and a Medical Devices Park for manufacturing medical devices, pharmaceutical formulations and bulk drugs. To add to the development of the sector, the authorities are also undertaking the work to establish India’s first National Government Medical Devices Laboratory in the state.

With more than a century of expertise, Gujarat has always been an ideal choice for investors in the healthcare sector which includes the pharmaceutical industry, medical devices and contract research organisations (CROs) industry to set up their base due to its industry-friendly policies, legal and financial framework, competent personnel, and economic chemical compositions.

With the increasing investments in Research and Development (R&D) sector, introduction of new products and entering into new pacts, pharmaceutical companies based in Gujarat have an opportunity to establish a strong presence in domestic as well as international markets, as the effectiveness in attracting and marketing itself to the world is the state’s biggest strength along with the security of having industry-friendly policy that attracts companies to come and set up their base in Gujarat. And, this is what makes the state stand out as a pharmaceutical hub of the country.

The government has been participating in a major way to attract companies to the state by promoting generic drugs through serving them with preference in the government schemes; incentivising all the R&D initiatives by providing tax benefits to encourage the same. And, with the Modi government determined to give a more modern and useful character to special economic zones (SEZs), Gujarat’s pharmaceutical sector is set to receive a major boost.

Number game

• 40 pc of India’s machinery for pharmaceutical sector is manufactured in Gujarat
• 28 pc of India’s pharmaceutical exports are from Gujarat
• World’s first biosimilar, ‘Adalimumab’ was manufactured in Gujarat
• 35 pc of India’s diagnostic reagent manufacturing is done in the state
• It is the largest producer of contraceptive pills in the world
• Gujarat accounts for 33 pc of India’s pharmaceutical sector turnover
• It is the only manufacturer of Dapsone in India
• Gujarat holds 3,574 manufacturing licenses
• 50 pc of India’s intraocular lenses, 78 pc of cardiac stents and 60 pc of
the country’s orthopaedic implants are manufactured in Gujarat
• 40 pc CRO of India is based in the state
• It equally accounts for the production of world’s 80 pc isoniazid
• More than 255 WHO-GMP compliant manufacturing facilities in India are from Gujarat
• Gujarat accounts for 53 pc of the total medical devices manufacturers in the country