Moving the needle: Healthcare industry in a post-COVID world

Though the pandemic exposed the fragilities of public health systems, it also led to collaborative efforts between life sciences companies, and between industry and regulatory authorities. The industry has responded with agility across the globe – from sequencing the virus to discovering vaccines within a year made possible through extraordinary collaboration efforts across all industry stakeholders.

India has made immense contributions globally by supplying drugs and vaccines to several countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The country reinforced its image as the “Pharmacy of the world’’. The Government’s “Make in India”  initiatives such as Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) to boost domestic manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), combined with recent teleconsulting guidelines released by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to spur digital healthcare are further likely to accelerate  the industry progress towards  Life Sciences 4.0.

COVID-19 is making fundamental changes to the world. The Indian life sciences and healthcare industry is not immune to broader emerging trends including digital care, data driven connected healthcare ecosystem, supply chain consolidation, and R&D innovation. Reframing the future and creating competitiveness would entail understanding socio economic factors, technology forces, capital efficiency frameworks and outcome-based customer centric new business and operating models. To emerge as a winner in the post-pandemic world, the industry needs to continue building on its strength and make a giant leap towards innovation at the same time.

It is imperative that India reevaluates its current role within the global life sciences industry. It must explore possibilities to consolidate and strengthen its position considering geopolitical and economic shifts. It must attain self-sufficiency as a globally competitive pharmaceutical industry with innovation as a guiding principle for future growth. As the Indian life sciences industry develops its future growth strategy, it is the right time to assess our current position globally and identify key focus areas. EY report in collaboration with BioAsia explores the industry’s current and future potential and aims to identify areas where we need to ‘Move the Needle’ immediately. It captures unique insights of EY Life sciences industry leaders on key priorities of how the industry could prepare for new realities in post pandemic world. It aims to drive understanding of the changing care needs of patients / consumers by building collaborative solutions encompassing industry stakeholders across the value chain.

The Indian life sciences industry is already at the cusp of transformation. Navigating the transformational path may be challenging for the stakeholders but the actions accomplished today have the potential of transforming the life sciences industry of tomorrow.