India has rightfully earned its position as the “pharmacy of the world.” India’s strength in generics and biosimilars has ensured affordable medicines reach millions across continents. This achievement reflects scientific capability, manufacturing excellence, and regulatory maturity.
However, the global pharmaceutical landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. The future of healthcare lies not merely in replication but in innovation - particularly in biologics, cell-based therapies, gene therapies, and nucleic acid-based platforms. If India aspires to global leadership rather than cost-based competitiveness alone, we must now recalibrate our innovation ecosystem.
The third dimension of academia
For decades, academic institutions have operated on two foundational pillars: teaching and research. In today’s knowledge economy, a third dimension has become indispensable - innovation with entrepreneurship.
India’s startup ecosystem has grown remarkably, with more than 2,00,000 DPIIT-recognized startups contributing significantly to employment generation and economic development. Importantly, innovation is no longer restricted to metropolitan centers; Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are emerging as dynamic entrepreneurial hubs.
Yet, many universities still measure success primarily by publications and citations. While academic rigor remains vital, it is equally important to assess how many technologies are translated, how many startups are nurtured, and how many products reach the marketplace. Innovation must become an institutional priority, not an optional extension of academia.
Bridging the lab-to-market gap
One of the most persistent challenges in India’s research ecosystem is technology translation. Publishing high-quality research and filing patents are important milestones - but they do not automatically lead to societal or economic impact.
Over the years, interactions with leading pharmaceutical companies such as Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Natco Pharma, Shantha Biotechnics, and Indian Immunologicals reinforced an important lesson: meaningful innovation occurs when academic insight aligns with industry needs.
Faculty members must increasingly think beyond theoretical advancement and focus on product-oriented research. At the same time, industry must move beyond transactional engagement and invest in long-term academic partnerships.
Changing nature of therapeutics
The pharmaceutical industry is transitioning from small molecules to large molecules, from chemistry-driven solutions to biology-driven interventions.
Advanced therapeutics - including monoclonal antibodies, cell therapies, gene therapies, and RNA-based medicines - require multidisciplinary expertise spanning molecular biology, immunology, bioinformatics, bioprocess engineering, and regulatory sciences. Traditional pharmaceutical training alone cannot address these emerging needs.
Simultaneously, India continues to depend heavily on imported medical devices. This represents a strategic opportunity. Engineering and life sciences must converge to develop indigenous diagnostic platforms, biomedical devices, and advanced healthcare technologies.
The next phase of India’s pharmaceutical growth will depend on how effectively we integrate biotechnology, engineering, and computational sciences.
Incubation as a strategic catalyst
Structured incubation plays a pivotal role in transforming academic ideas into viable enterprises.
Through initiatives such as BIONEST bio-incubation centers, operating under Section 8 frameworks, we have demonstrated that academic ecosystems can successfully nurture deep-tech startups. Within a short span, such incubation platforms have supported innovation-driven ventures working in vaccines, biologics, and advanced therapeutics.
One example is Bycus Therapeutics, founded by doctoral researchers, which has grown into a company employing dozens of scientists and focusing on novel biologics. Such outcomes reaffirm that when mentorship, infrastructure, and scientific depth converge, academic innovation can achieve commercial scale.
Overcoming the “valley of death”
Perhaps the most challenging phase for any biotech startup is the transition from proof-of-concept to commercialization. Early-stage grants and institutional support can help build prototypes, but large-scale product development requires significant capital investment.
Traditional banking systems are risk-averse in deep-tech domains. Therefore, a strong venture capital ecosystem becomes indispensable.
Organizations such as the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA) have been working to connect promising startups with angel investors, venture capitalists, and global pharmaceutical stakeholders through structured investor engagement platforms.
However, strengthening innovation does not rest only on funding. Industry-facing platforms that connect manufacturers, marketers, researchers, regulators, and investors are equally important. In this context, initiatives led by organizations such as Pharmabharath play a meaningful role by creating integrated ecosystems - bringing together pharmaceutical manufacturers, franchise companies, third-party manufacturers, service providers, regulatory experts, and startup enablers under one umbrella. Such platforms help bridge communication gaps between innovation creators and commercial stakeholders, accelerating collaboration and market access.
India needs more structured collaboration networks that function as connectors across academia, industry, and entrepreneurship.
Addressing the skills gap
Another pressing issue is employability and industry readiness. Graduates often lack exposure to real-world regulatory processes, GMP environments, product development cycles, and commercialization strategies.
Interdisciplinary collaboration is no longer optional. Modern drug discovery and development demand coordinated efforts among biologists, chemists, data scientists, engineers, clinicians, and business professionals.
Academic institutions possess a natural advantage - diverse expertise within a single ecosystem. Encouraging students from life sciences, engineering, computational sciences, management, and finance to collaborate can significantly strengthen startup viability and innovation outcomes.
From incremental to disruptive innovation
India’s pharmaceutical industry has largely excelled in incremental innovation - optimizing costs and improving accessibility. While this has had immense global health impact, it does not position us as innovation leaders.
True leadership demands disruptive breakthroughs - novel molecules, first-in-class therapies, original platforms, and globally patented technologies.
We will only become global leaders when we create and introduce innovative products to the world - not merely manufacture what has already been invented elsewhere.
This transformation requires coordinated action among academia, industry, government agencies, investors, and ecosystem platforms. Infrastructure exists. Talent exists. Policy support exists. What we now require is a decisive shift in mindset - from replication to originality.
The way forward
India stands at a defining moment in its scientific and industrial evolution. The foundation for innovation has been laid through startup policies, incubation programmes, investor engagement platforms, and industry networks.
The next leap will depend on integration
Universities must institutionalize entrepreneurship alongside teaching and research.
Industry must invest more aggressively in indigenous R&D partnerships.
Venture capital must embrace deep-tech risk.
Ecosystem platforms must strengthen collaboration pipelines.
Young innovators must build resilient, interdisciplinary teams focused on solving real-world problems.
The journey from idea to impact is demanding. It requires perseverance, collaboration, and long-term vision. But with collective commitment, India can transition from being the pharmacy of the world to becoming a global hub of pharmaceutical and biotechnological innovation.
The opportunity is before us. The responsibility is ours.
(Author is Professor Emeritus at School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad)
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