Mumbai: Asserting that “the future is NOW,” the third edition of the Economic Times’ RePharma Summit opened up new avenues of opportunity for redefining the Indian pharmaceutical ecosystem and strengthening it through innovations and technological evolution in drug manufacturing and delivery.

Presented by Anervea, knowledge partner IBM, in association with Salesforce, gold partners Veeva and Wolters Kluwer, analytics partner Qlik, and supporting partners Zota Healthcare Ltd and Davaindia. The RePharma Summit had Nawin Sona, Principal Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, as the guest of honour. Sona shared his insights into the current pharmaceutical scenario in India and the challenges that lay ahead for the sector.

Keeping the focus on India’s Vaccine, Diagnostics and Therapeutics Clout, the inaugural panel discussed challenges that went behind making India’s vaccine story a success worldwide. The panel discussion moderated by Vikas Dandekar, Editor, Health and Pharma, ETPrime, had Dr Sushil Shah, Founder and Chairman, Metropolis Healthcare, Sanjiv Navangul, Managing Director and CEO, Bharat Serums & Vaccine, Dr Shekhar Mande, Former Director General, CSIR and Shirish Arya, Director, Corporate Strategy & Business Development, ImmunoACT as participants.

In times of medical emergency, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has made a substantial contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects by providing affordable global health treatments. As a result, due to its enormous potential, it is predicted that India’s pharmaceutical sector will generate $ 130 billion by 2030.

Reaffirming the anticipated expansion of the pharmaceutical industry, Ayush Atal Mishra, Managing Partner and Head of Data Science, Anervea, said, “In the recent years, especially in the post-COVID environment, there has been a significant surge in terms of small towns behaving in adoption of big pharma. And, how prescriptions are made by the doctors as far as small towns are concerned.”

Mishra also conducted a partner presentation on ‘Next-Gen Data Driven Commercialization for Pharmaceutical Companies in India’ adding that there is an upward trend and the new growth markets have opened up in the form of small towns and how India’s last mile is finally getting its due share of the right healthcare.

The subsequent panel discussion was on ‘Strengthening Indian Pharma through Innovation’. The discussion was moderated by Ganesan V P, Sr Partner and Distribution Sector Leader, India/South Asia, IBM, and the panellists were Sreeji Gopinathan, Global CIO, Lupin, Ganesh Ramachandran, Global CIO, Alkem, Phani Mitra, Head Digital & Process Excellence, India & Emerging Markets, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and Sujith Eramangalath, Board Advisor, Anervea.

Among the panel members, Sujith Eramangalath, Board Advisor, Anervea, while sharing his experience about the event, spoke about the evolution of the Indian pharmaceutical industry in recent years. Eramangalath said, “The industry is growing leaps and bounds, especially looking at the growth trajectory in the last five years.” He added by saying that the adoption of digital technologies has led to tremendous growth not just on the sales and marketing fronts but across the value chain, from manufacturing, supply chain to the final product reaching the market.

In her special address, Geena Malhotra, Global CTO, CIPLA Ltd., spoke at length and in great detail about the role of technology in advancements driving the future of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Followed by a partner presentation on ‘Accelerating Innovation through Life Sciences Industry Cloud’ by Varadarajan Srinivasan, General Manager, Veeva Systems, and a partner presentation by Aditi Sharma, Director, Health and Transformation, Salesforce India, another panel discussion on ‘Vision of Thought Leaders in Shaping the Pharma Industry’ was held.

The summit also had a fireside chat on embracing digitalization in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Moderated by Prabhat Prakash, Senior Digital Content Creator, ETHealthworld, the panelists, Pradeep Gadre, Managing Director, SciTech Healthcare, and Manoj Lekhrajani, Chairman, Pharmapoint, deliberated on the scope and challenges in adopting digital solutions.

Following the fireside chat, Dr Sujit Paul, Group CEO, Zota Healthcare, conducted a partner presentation on ‘Pioneering Action to Take the Company to the Next Level and Lead in the Area of Pharma Retail Segment.’

In a crucial discussion on ‘IBM: Building Cyber Resilient in the Indian Pharma Industry’. Among the participants, Dr Nikita Ambadaskar, Product Owner- Digital Platforms, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, shared her experience about the summit. She also spoke about the influx of new ideas brought to the digital evolution, like the usage of AI and IOD. “These are not just names now, but are actually giving use cases for businesses to generate good income, unexplored use cases that can influx new as well as smaller businesses existing in a larger ecosystem.”

Vipul Jain, Associate Director, SLM Planning, Cipla, spoke about the future prospects of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Jain said, “Post-pandemic, the industry is reaching new highs. We have seen a surge in the way industry is increasing its depth and spreading its presence worldwide in terms of digital transformation, innovation, and also on the vaccine front. Indian Pharma is leaving its footprint everywhere.”

The summit was concluded with the India Pharmaworld Awards, with Sunita Chawda awarded as the ‘Emerging Pharma Leader of the Year’, Cipla Limited for ‘Excellent Use of Technology’, Cilacar T JB Pharma for category ‘Drug of the Year’, Trust Chemists for category ‘Pharmacy Chain of the Year’, Vivere Imaging Pvt Ltd for category ‘Start-up of the Year’ and many more. The awards over a wide range of categories are a testimony to the hard work and persistence shown by the industry stakeholders to make India a global powerhouse in the pharmaceutical sector.