India looses USD 1 Billion Investment in Drug R&D to China due to lax Indian patent laws-

Did I really read the news correct or was I just plain drunk on a weekend while reading it. Turns out it is true. Just a week after the Novartis CEO has blasted the Indian IP laws, Novartis has announced plans to invest 1 Billion US Dollar in China for Drug Discovery and Developement. The plan calls for hundreds of new hires and new research facilities in Changshu.

Novartis is  waging a high-stakes court fight over patent protection for the cancer blockbuster Gleevec, No wonder the Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella had enough and announced that the subcontinent’s reputation as a low-cost R&D center is losing its luster.

In his interview he has quoted “There is a significant difference between India and China–in the political system, in the decision making processes, in the complexities of the processes and in the continuity,” Vasella tells the Economic Times. “I think India has potential but things take longer to get done. It may come as a surprise but China has made tremendous progress in IP and is enforcing IP in pharmaceuticals.” And the CEO made it clear that a high court ruling on Gleevec could prove a decisive turning point for India’s R&D industry.

In 2006, Novartis made a commitment to build a $125 million R&D facility in Hyderabad. The next year, after the company lost a patent battle over its blockbuster cancer drug, Gleevec (

I thought China also didnt had a great IP law to speak of. How many times we saw news stories about fake chinesse counterbrands.

But here is the upside , the chineese dont challenge the patents in Courts. China is behind India in pharmaceutical chemistry, so they are not so keen in spending time to another way to manfacture the drug. But China is way ahead of India in Medicinal Chemistry,  pre-clinical and toxicological study infrstructre. SFDA the Chineese equivalent of FDA, is taking a lot bold steps and investment to ensure fast trial registration, proper Pharmacovigilance reporting etc. net net it is faster to run R&D in China

India is yet to have solid infrastructre or plans for clinical trial monitoring or pharmacovigialance . The WHO fund for a national pharmacovigilance monitoring policy and infrastructre has already elasped in 2008. And we are yet to see any increase in number of adverse events reported in India .

India will make similar progress, he opined, when Indian pharmaceutical companies have more IP they want to protect. Then, the companies will force the government to act and increase IP protection.

Pfizer announced it would close six out of its 20 R&D facilities around the globe as part of its post-Wyeth-acquisition consolidation but the company’s Shanghai R&D operation is not affected – an implicit endorsement of China’s R&D.

Ok we Indians will wait till then , and just pray that the Red Dragon is not going to burn the Indian the pharma industry till that time