BioVoice News December 2017-January 2018 Issue 7 Volume 2 | Page 54

tech providers Chemical Products for the performance year 2015. How do you view the current market scenario in India? What are the challenges and opportunities for bio-suppliers or technology providers? India is the second largest supplier of generic drugs by value, and the largest supplier by volume to the global marketplace. Generic drugs in India include a broad range of small- molecule drugs, over-the-counter products, AIDS antiretroviral, oncology drugs and more. This includes the increasing number of development of large- molecule drugs, and 54 BioVoiceNews | Dec 2017 - Jan 2018 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: especially generics as more innovative drug products come off patent. In terms of quality, there is a tightening of regulations with major regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. FDA and UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), pushing for stricter norms for pharma companies not only in terms of manufacturing practices, but also where they source their ingredients or components. This is benefiting the industry in India in general, particularly as more and more multinational manufacturers like Avantor look to their Indian facilities as a key element in the global supply chains – not merely as a facility that serves the Indian market. Manufacturers of both small- and large-molecule drugs are being driven to partner with more reputable suppliers, rather than simply looking solely at price, which also pushes other suppliers in the region to migrate to higher standards to be competitive. India is also working on some of the challenges that the rest of the global biopharmaceutical industry faces, like drug development and process optimization. These include achieving the efficient production of therapeutic proteins and discovering new approaches for