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Co-relating Intellectual Property with the tale of the three blind men who have different views about the elephant, Sailesh Ayyangar, MD Aventis Pharma Ltd, traced out the history of patent, from the 19th century diktat that patent was enemy to free trade to the present scenario where patent is the key to manage economic prosperity.
"65% of the pharma industry would not have launched a product if there was not patent," he said. "The reason is the long lag period in the research arenas of the pharma sector, and also because of the high investment in the R&D. Ayyangar posited advantage India as a mantra to strengthen the IP in the industry. "We have exclusive brain power, we have entrepreneurship in our blood, we have excellent manufacturing facilities, all we need is to build a reputation and get out of the copy cat label. We need to manage IPR for forging alliances and for clinical research," he said. Encouraging ISB students to venture into this sector Ayyengar said, "The Pharma industry is an industry of choice and a challenging one for young business minds."

Analyzing the phenomenon of medical tourism Vishal Bali, CEO Wockhardt Hospitals said the initial euphoria of a first world patient being treated in a third worlds hospital is over. He claimed that Healthcare Delivery is going to be the major key driver as far as the growth of the pharma industry is concerned and that Asia is going to be the next best destination for health care practices. Bali said that we have come full circle. "From being a net exporter in patients to the developed world, we have become the net importer," he said. The reasons being that while in Europe the Social Insurance Scheme is under pressure, the US healthcare comes at a premium rate. "Today we are the treatment destination for the developed world and this is due to the fact the India has above 600,000 doctors, lower medication cost, availability of global healthcare brands, a global recognition of clinical talent and also because of the fact that India is a civilization 5000 years old," he said. Bali however maintained the need to sustain the advantages. "We need to have consistent cost advantage, have transparency of clinical services and confirm to international quality and standards, he stressed.

Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care System , spoke about his institution's efforts at providing healthcare to the 500 million who comprise the 'Bottom of the Pyramid' segment in India. Aravind's healthcare strategy aims at subsidising the middle income group and providing free healthcare to the poor people. One way of doing this was through optimisation of their resources – they do 2000 cataract surgeries per doctor per year, where the figure stands at 250-300 cataract surgeries per doctor per year for the rest of the hospitals in the country. And they do not compromise on quality. Aravind was also aiming at making optimal use of IT through telemedicine efforts where paramedics take care of the preparatory activities and a qualified doctor takes care of the diagnosis.

Ratan Jalan, CEO, Apollo Health & Lifestyle Limited , speaking about the medical insurance sector, said that the Mediclaim policy, with all its limitations, was virtually the only product available in medical insurance in the country. He stressed the need for more insurance products in the Healthcare industry.

The afternoon session had a panel discussion on "Indian Pharma in the global game". Utkarsh Palnitkar, Partner, Ernst & Young, was the moderator for the discussion. He said that the biggest impact of globalisation in the Indian consumer context was that earlier there were two kinds of products manufactured in India - one was 'export quality' and the other was meant for lesser mortals in the country. Now, with globalisation, there is only one kind of product available - the 'export quality' kind. "The Indian consumer has never had it so good," he said.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Ms. Bhuvana Ramalingam,
Director - Communications,
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.