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Indias life sciences sector, including pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, clinical research, and digital health, has been at the forefront of our battle against the coronavirus pandemic. Domestic pharma companies are developing drugsandvaccines.Some have alsodeveloped testsand are rolling out testingservices. Indias hydroxychloroquine is being exported around theworldand is in great demandto aid the treatment of Covid patients.

Meanwhile, the Aarogya Setu contact tracing app has alreadyseenmore than 7.5 croredownloads.

We must now further strengthen the life sciences sector to meet the demands of the future. This will require a multi-dimensional approach.

Also read: To achieve herd immunity, vaccine and a data-driven approach needed: WHO chief scientist

First. There must beclose industry-government collaboration to develop and fine-tune regulations to promote fast growthfor the sector.

Second. We must ensure that we rapidly build up our life sciences workforce so that we can have enough talented people available for both the health care and the life sciencessectors.

Third. We should consider whether we are providing enough financial support for sectoral growth.

And, finally, we must leverage the fast-emerging IndianSuperCloudto connect all our life sciences activity.

Some of our life sciences enterprises are nowworld leaderssuch as Cipla, Aurobindo, Lupin, and DRL.Some 50per centof the worlds vaccines are produced in India. We also produce 20per centof the worlds generic medicines. The pharma industry alone generates close to $20 billion inannual exports.

Our skilled doctors, nurses, and other life sciences professionals are leading major research programmes in India and around the world. The coronavirus pandemic has proven to all of us that we have not been spending enough on life sciences and health care.

Resources and spending willneed togrow dramatically to protect the worlds population. Life sciences companies should now work closely with our various regulators and policy-makers throughempowered working groups to driveupinvestment, growth, and jobs.

Also read: Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccine could be ready in a year, says Biocons Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Life sciencesisa tightly regulated sector. In India, we have several regulators across multiple ministries that have oversight over the sector.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) sets prices for bulk drugs and formulations and is within the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers. The ministry of health and family welfare manages the safety, efficacy, and quality of drugs and medical devices through the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. In the same ministry, the National Health Portal of India is formulating Electronic Health Record (EHR) standards, which will also be governed by the Personal Data Protection bill, being handled by the ministry of electronics and information technology.

Alllife sciences research is conducted under the guidelines established by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Ministry of Science & Technology. The Ayush Ministry and Niti Aayog also play an important role in the life sciences sector.Although healthis a state subject and each state can develop policies to support the sector,it is important thatall these regulators anddecision-makers,both at the centre and the state level, working with industry,developcoordinatedresponse forsectoral growth.

Also read: Covid-19 response is a chance for companies to place planet over profits

Along with deep collaboration between industry and government at all levels, we must also build up our life sciences workforce. Today we have 535 medical colleges in India graduating about 79,000 students every year. It is estimated that we currentlyhave 300,000 annualnursing seatsavailable. In addition, there are lakhs of biology, biotechnology, and chemistry students graduating every yearwhocan be employed in the life sciences sector.

That said, we still have only 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people against the minimumWorld Health Organizationsstandard of 1 per 1000 people. For nurses, we are at 1.7 when we should be at 2.5. In addition, we need to provide our educational institutions withsignificantly higherresearch funding so that we can get more young scientists and researchersto work towards developingcutting-edgesolutionsin drugs,devices, andtherapiessegments.

Also read: Critical drugs supply must not be disrupted, EU envoy says as India bans & resumes exports

Government funding worththousands of crores of rupees is required to drive this researchculture in India. An expert panel could be constituted to select 10-15 researchareassuch as genomics, computational biology, virology, epidemiology, neuroscience, stem cell research, etc.

Multi-year research grants could then be provided to top scientists (in India or from ourcommunity abroad) to pursue their research and train graduate students. Research productivity could then be judged on objective global metrics (high-quality citations, placement of graduate students in top institutions, and so on) to ensure accountability and quality.

We also need to back new life sciences enterprises with venture capital financing. The government has established a Rs 10,000 croreFund-of-Fundsto support venture capital funds. It might be possible to allocate a significant fraction of this money solely to life sciences funds, so that they can provide the necessary financing and support to life sciences startups. This will require that SIDBI have the necessary expertise toidentifyand nurture life sciences funds.

Also read: US drug authority warns Americans not to pop hydroxychloroquine pills without prescription

Finally, Indias fast-emerging SuperCloud can play an important role in the development of the life sciences sector. With high-speed 5G networks and local data centres, telemedicine and remote diagnostics will become fully feasible.

Theprovisions of thenew Personal Data Protection bill will make it possible to develop a secureelectronic health record (EHR)for every individual so that their necessary healthcare eligibility, data, and payments/insurance are available as required. Large local data lakes will enable AI and computational biology to develop therapies targeted for the Indian genome.

Pandemics will come and go,but ournon-communicable disease burden will continue to rise. Around the world, there is a looming shortage of skilled medical professionals and researchers. New, low-cost therapies are in high demand. The Indian life sciences sector can take advantageof these circumstancesto not only protect our health, but also become a growth engine for Indias economy.

Jayant Sinha is the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance in Parliament and a Lok Sabha MP from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. These are his personal views.

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Covid has proved we havent spent enough on life science research. Time to make up now - ThePrint