Biotechnology in India: Public-Private Partnerships

My recent article on 'Biotechnology in India: Public-Private Partnerships' has been published by the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, published from UK. Please take a look at the abstract below.

Abstract

The purpose of the study being a survey of public sector- private industry collaborations of the biotechnology sector in India, an organizational and functional overview of this sector was needed. Therefore, rather than studying a hypothetical biotechnology sector in India, the area of this work confined to study the public-private partnerships (PPP) that are occurring in India in the area of modern biotechnology. The Indian Government has been playing an important role in the development of biotechnology sector from the very beginning and there are large numbers of R&D institutions (Scientific, Medical, Industrial and Agricultural) which have been set up by the Government during the past two-three decades. Indian Biotechnology industry is advancing towards new heights in alignment with the growth and progression observed globally. The past performance of the industry indicates that it has surpassed the growth rate of many other industries. This paper also highlights the favorable national policies undertaken to strengthen the Indian biotechnology industry. It is in this context that the paper shows that these collaborations are an expression of more general trends towards a changing role for the country in economic production.

In case, you are interested reading further on this topic, please send me an email to receive the preprint copy of it.

Risk-reduced cost management practices (No. 4)

4. Outsourcing (CROs)

While most attention is paid for reducing the risk and the cost of drug development, from the clinical perspective, contract research organizations (CROs), in order to manage successfully require flexible and efficient management team. Considering the managerial issues, the ‘Monitor closely, Work closely’ team approach proves to be the most accepted across the globe. The basic principle followed by the FIPCOs is certainly based on ‘Inspect, what you expect’ formula. In order to minimize the cost, what needs to be delivered needs to be expected early in the developmental pipeline. Issues like, the increasing attrition rate in CROs, often indicate that the people you end up with are not the people who started the work. The most important thing for any bio/pharma company is to have their communication channels well equipped in terms of rules and regulations that needs to be followed. The middle level product manages required to be rightly placed at the right time in order to monitor the progress efficiently in the hierarchical manner.

From drug discovery to selling, the bio/pharmaceutical industry needs new solutions. Outsourcing provides the small pharmaceutical company the ability to take new drugs through clinical trials by avoid the investment in infrastructure which would normally be necessary. These companies are mostly looking at collaborative research outsourcing work to be done out of India. Another theme on collaborative research outsourcing (CRO) is likely to become the next big wave after contract research outsourcing.

Risk-reduced cost management practices (No. 3)

3. Consumer-driven models

Consumer-driven healthcare is all about inspiring the consumers to choose and use. More like the philosophical and practical assessment mechanism, where one consumer might choose to buy a fully loaded luxury car verses the consumer, who would prefer a compact car model to his or her everyday basic need. Similarly, in the healthcare industry, one patient might opt for a more expensive drug or treatment that provides better quality of life compared to the one opting for an inexpensive treatment that offers adequate health benefit. Spiraling healthcare costs and consumer demand for greater flexibility are the reasons why many biotech companies are moving to consumer-driven healthcare system, which is defined as a system where consumers, not the company or insurance provider, determine how and where to spend their healthcare allotments.

The only obstacle foresees is the consumer education, if the average consumer is not well informed regarding the health benefits. The basic premise of consumer-driven healthcare is that if users of the healthcare benefit see the true costs of a service, and they are given incentives to help manage these costs, overall healthcare costs will decline rapidly while quality care is maintained. This is going to create a tremendous change in the cost-effective and affordable drug making environment for biotechnology companies, in particular and for all of the bio/pharmaceutical industry, in general.