Pharma sector to top $5 bn by '10

The rapidly progressing Indian pharma industry, assisted by a strong research and development base, skilled manpower, low-cost base and manufacturing excellence has provided the industry with the right platform to move towards achieving its goal of $ 5 billion turnover by year 2010, a report said on Thursday.

"The Indian biotechnology industry crossed the threshold level of $1 billion in March 2005. The Indian pharma Industry is rapidly progressing towards consolidation, merger and acquisition for strong growth in the competitive patent environment," international accounting and consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers has said in its report.

A growing number of multinationals are now outsourcing active pharmaceutical ingredients from Indian companies.

"India's nascent research skills have been matched by a growing expertise in clinical testing. If these continue to prevail then the industry could attain its $5 billion target by 2010," Pricewaterhouse Coopers executive director (business solutions) Devinder Chawla told PTI .

"During the past few years, a large number of big contract research organisations including Quintiles, Omnicare and Pharmanet have set up business in India. Most of the MNCs like Novo Nordisk and GSK, amongst them have likewise started clinical testing in India while Pfizer and Eli Lily have been conducting tests locally for a while," Chawla said.

In the biotechnology sector, though India holds a small share of the global market, it has all the capabilities to become a dominant player.

The consumption of biotech products is expected to quadruple in the next decade. The human and animal segment of the industry is growing by 20 per cent.