Top officials and academicians from the government and industry are expected to participate in the annual India-US Biopharma and Healthcare Summit, which will be held virtually next week. It will bring together the stakeholders from the two countries together.
The 15th edition of the annual summit will be held, in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, on June 22 is being organized by Boston-based USA India Chambers of Commerce (USAIC). NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Pfizer CEO Dr Alberta Bourla, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr Francis Collins and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock are scheduled to address the summit. They are expected to discuss areas of cooperation and emerging trends in drug discovery and development.
“The pandemic has demonstrated the need for global collaboration and partnership in drug and vaccine development, clinical research and trials, health data analytics to provide solutions at a faster pace,” Kant said. “With a focus on moonshot sectors in pharma such as vaccines, orphan drugs, biosimilars and complex generics, India is looking at ways to incentivize research, encourage industry academia collaboration and attract global scientific talent to strengthen its R&D ecosystem.”
Kant is looking forward to hearing from global leaders during the USAIC Summit on ways to enhance international collaboration to conduct high quality and breakthrough research and place pharmaceutical industry amongst the top industries in the world. He said currently contributing 3.6% of global pharma market, India aims to increase its share to 7% in the coming decade by creating global champions.
“During the USAIC’s 15th Annual BioPharma & Healthcare Summit, we will have the opportunity to hear many different perspectives and engage with leaders across the healthcare sector,” said Andrew Plump, president of R&D, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and chair USAIC Biopharma & Healthcare Summit and USAIC Advisory Board member.
“There is increased recognition that we must develop new ways of innovating that we require partnership and collaboration models for industry, academia, the investment community, non-profit and government sectors at work together earlier in the R&D process and in more meaningful ways to accelerate our collective efforts for patients, and we must be proactive and make the necessary investments now,” he said.
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Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India and Advisory Board member USAIC, highlighted that, more than ever there is need to bring access and equity of discoveries that are cutting edge and save lives. “This can happen only if we enhance collaboration, maintain standards and find ways to ensure that costs to the beneficiary are reasonable and ensure maximal access. It is this combination of developing and using the best interventions and ensure that they are available that is India’s focus,” he explained. “In doing so, India expects to contribute to global access of quality biotech and pharma even more than it does now.”
Karun Rishi, President USAIC, said several thousand have registered from across the world for the annual summit. “As a service to the global biopharma community in these unprecedented times, USAIC is offering free registration for its annual summit,” he said.
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