China manufactures the active ingredients, India transforms them into medicines and exports them. The machine works fine. Thanks to ultra-competitive prices, around 4 to 7 times cheaper than in Western countries, India is now a must in this sector.
In three decades, the country has become one of the world’s leading drug producers. Generic champion India also supplies half of the world’s vaccine demand. During Covid, it exported more than a billion doses. The country is just one huge laboratory with more than 4,400 production sites. Its best-known national giants: Sun Pharma, Cipla and Lupin. An industry that weighs 50,000 million dollars, double the expected in 2030.
India, champion of generics
The medicines that it exports are precisely the ones that are most lacking in our pharmacies. The country has specialized in copying mature products that have lost their patents, the same ones that were victims of shortages last winter.
Criticized a few years ago for its regulatory deficiencies in the manufacturing process, this is no longer the case today, India has undeniable know-how. So much so that we could witness, according to experts, a reversal of the situation. The government could take advantage of the arrival of the Indian prime minister to establish bilateral agreements and why not even encourage the large Indian laboratories to come and install an annex in France.
Source: BFM TV
