Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, India’s Minister of Health recently announced “We need to make policies, new products and new research according to the needs of our country and the world, in consultation with industries and academia.”
On the National Policy on Research and Development and Innovation in pharmaceutical and MedTech Sector, in India, the minister said:
“A well-designed and suitably targeted intervention is required to incentivize specific high value goods such as biopharmaceuticals, complex generic drugs, patented drugs or drugs nearing patent expiry, cell based or gene therapy drugs. The medical device sector is also an essential and integral constituent of the healthcare sector.
A new program to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals will be taken up through Centers of Excellence. We shall also encourage industry to invest in research and development in specific priority areas.”
The Department of Pharmaceuticals has proposed a budget outlay of $519 million to transform the Indian pharmaceuticals sector from cost-based to innovation-based growth by strengthening the research infrastructure in the country. The goal is to promote industry-academia linkage for R&D in priority areas and to inculcate the culture of quality research and nurture a pool of scientists. The government will establish 7 Centers of Excellence for research infrastructure with a financial outlay of $75 million.
Research in the pharmaceutical sector will focus on six priority areas such as New Chemical Entities, Complex generics including biosimilars, medical devices, stem cell therapy, orphan drugs, Anti-microbial resistance. Financial assistance will be provided to industries, MSME, SME, and startups working with government institutions for both in- house and academic research.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
