Hyderabad, India: A delegation of the U.S.-India Business Council Life Sciences Mission recently met with Dr. P.V. Ramesh, Principal Secretary for Health in the Government of Andhra Pradesh to discuss areas of collaboration with the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The USIBC delegation explored opportunities to partner with the Government to build capacity and strategies for better healthcare management and innovation.

The USIBC Mission was a four-day visit to Hyderabad and New Delhi during which it met with senior executives from Indian and foreign biotech companies, clinical research organizations as well as top consulting and legal firms. It also organized a meeting with multiple industry groups including BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization), PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America), ACRO (Association of Clinical Research Organizations) and the OPPI (Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India) sub-committee on Biotechnology to discuss areas of importance to the bio-sciences industry.

The discussions focused on India’s strategic roadmap to capture a substantial portion of the global bio-pharmaceutical market, which is projected to be valued at USD 319 billion by 2020.

USIBC and the State Government discussed sustainable models for healthcare financing and identified opportunities for USIBC’s Coalition for Healthy India to collaborate in the state’s growing school health initiatives..

Dr. P.V. Ramesh, Principal Secretary for Health in the Government of Andhra Pradesh, stated: “This is an excellent opportunity to strengthen our healthcare initiatives as well as research and development in modernizing the state’s healthcare sector. The Government of Andhra Pradesh looks forward to a fruitful collaboration with the USIBC to boost our efforts to build a world class healthcare infrastructure.”

Elaborating on the success of the mission, Dr. Romi Singh, Executive Director, Amgen and leader of the USIBC Life Sciences Executive Mission said, “The Mission is a first in that it has brought together all the key stakeholders onto a common platform to work together on key issues such as Intellectual Property Rights and the need for a comprehensive regulatory framework for the approval of biologics including biosimilars.”

Speaking on the purpose of the visit, Mr. Greg Kalbaugh, Director & Counsel, USIBC & Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), stated, “The Life Sciences Mission was truly impressed by the strides made in the state of Andhra Pradesh. During the two days of the mission in Hyderabad, our members had the opportunity to interact with government, industry and academia and were reassured that our partnership will continue to grow on the basis of innovation, research and the need to build a strong healthcare infrastructure.”

Challenges identified during the discussions include:

a) The need to strengthen existing IPR framework in order to enable a culture of innovation

b) Beyond IPR, need to monitor the evolving regulatory landscape with the involvement of multiple agencies in the regulation of biologics including biosimilars

The discussion witnessed a successful dialogue between ABLE (Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises) and the USIBC delegation. The two parties agreed to explore a Joint Working Group to work with various government agencies involved in developing guidelines for the regulation of biologics in India.

The U.S.-India Business Council, formed in 1975 at the request of the Government of India and the U.S. Government to advance commercial ties between the world’s two largest free-market democracies, is hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region. The Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) is working around the world to champion intellectual property (IP) rights as vital to creating jobs, saving lives, advancing global economic growth, and generating breakthrough solutions to global challenges.