The Medicine Box

The global vaccine industry has been stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic and Saumya Krishna of consulting firm Kearney estimates that the Indian vaccine industry can grow from $2 billion to $4-5 billion by 2025.

In this edition of The Medicine Box season 5, CNBC-TV18’s Ekta Batra discusses with Krishna a report by Kearney in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The report highlights how ‘Make In India’ can fuel 4x growth in biosimilars and vaccines by 2026.

Moreover, India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world with more than 2500 biotech companies. Indian firms have already launched over 98 biosimilar drugs in the market.

Krishna says the true opportunity for biologic drugs is in the global market and according to her billions worth of such drugs will go off patent in the next decade.

Tune in to the Medicine Podcast t find out more about vaccines, and ways to transform India’s biologics industry.

The Medicine Box season 5 is back following the COVID-19 hiatus and in the first episode CNBC-TV'18 Ekta Batra spoke to Managing Director of MSD India -- the Indian arm of Merck & Co in the US and Canada -- Rehan Khan about their vaccine that protects against the Human Papillomavirus or HPV, which causes cervical cancer in women.

The vaccine that battles nine types of HPV viruses, has been made gender-neutral and can be administered to boys between 9 and 15 years of age, who could be at risk of developing cancer. Earlier, it was administered only to women.

Tune in to The Medicine Box podcast to find out more about the HPV vaccine, which was first launched in 2015 in the US and has been approved in over 80 countries.

The podcast, hosted by CNBC-TV18’s Ekta Batra, and in association with OPPI, which represents research-based pharmaceutical companies in India, has six episodes. The third episode features N Rajaram, Boar Member OPPI and managing director of Sanofi India. He discusses public-private partnerships in healthcare and shares vital insights on how one can deliver better health outcomes. Tune in!

In the latest series of The Medicine Box, top executives of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) and India-based MNCs speak on a range of topics related to the pharma and healthcare industry.

The podcast, hosted by CNBC-TV18’s Ekta Batra, and in association with OPPI, which represents research-based pharmaceutical companies in India, will have six episodes.

In the second episode of the series, Ekta chats with A Vaidheesh, OPPI president, and managing director, India of Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited. Vaidheesh discusses India’s Missing Middle, in the context of Ayushman Bharat & healthcare financing in the country. Listen to him share his thoughts on the current healthcare financing models in India, the need for change and solutions such as increasing insurance coverage. Tune in!

The Indian pharmaceutical industry, which is expected to touch $130 billion by 2030, is the largest provider of generic medicines globally, producing 20 percent of world’s medicines. India, called ‘pharmacy to the world’, is the source of 60,000 generic brands across 60 therapeutic categories and home to 3,000 pharma companies with a network of more than 10,500 manufacturing facilities. Despite these promising statistics, the country’s healthcare sector is not in the pink of health. The challenges include skyrocketing out-of-pocket expenditure, pricing of patented drugs, spurious medications and regulatory loopholes.

The guest on today’s The Medicine Box podcast is Nimish Mehta, founder of pharma- and health-focused advisory Research Delta Advisors. Nimish’s experience in the pharma space spans more than two decades including consulting and advisory on M&A, exit, entry decisions. He joins in today to discuss what a Para IV is and he lists out any potential Para IV opportunities he foresees for specific pharma companies.

Wolters Kluwer is an IT company with a very strong focus on healthcare. Its app called UpToDate is used by more than 50,000 doctors, multiple hospitals and medical colleges. The app helps provide information and support to clinicians to make better decisions. The company has partnerships with the likes of AIIMs, CMC Vellore, KEM Mumbai, etc. In the latest episode of #TheMedicineBox, Shireesh Sahai, CEO of Wolters Kluwer, discusses his app with Ekta Batra. 

In this episode of The Medicine Box, Ekta Batra talks to Sujay Shetty of PwC who leads Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences segment at PWC India and has over 20 years of experience in the pharma and medical devices industry in India, the UK and South East Asia.  #TheMedicineBox on CNBCTV18.com aims to give you an insight on all things pharma and health – from discussing trends in the industry to key issues in health with all the relevant experts. In this series, Batra talks to Shetty about the emerging trends in the pharma and healthcare space such as cost containment, M&A opportunities, capex and outlook on the US markets.