Over the recent years, the Indian healthcare industry has reinvented itself in the global healthcare ecosystem by manifesting unprecedented resilience in mitigating the catastrophe of the pandemic and vaccinating its people in record time—something that seemed an impossible task during the peak of the pandemic. The largest provider of generic drugs globally and third in terms of pharmaceutical production by volume, the Indian pharmaceutical sector supplies over 50 percent of global demand for various vaccines, 40 percent of generic demand in the US, and 25 percent of all medicine in the UK. According to last year’s Indian Economic Survey, the domestic market is expected to grow three-fold in the next decade. India’s domestic pharmaceutical market is at $ 42 billion in 2021 and likely to reach$ 65 billion by 2024 and further expand to reach ~$ 120-130 billion by 2030. Navigating the industry through the enormous demand is a bunch of leaders like Prashant Sharma, who manages manufacturing, operations, and site quality functions of Zydus Lifesciences’ (formerly known as Cadila Healthcare) entire manufacturing footprint. Prashant possesses more than 25 years of professional experience. He engages in an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, sharing his insights about the present and future of the industry. 

In conversation with Prashant Sharma, Chief Technical Officer (Group Manufacturing Operations & Group Site Quality), Zydus Group 

 

What has been the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the patient behavior, their attitude toward different vaccines, and the healthcare culture at large?

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a higher awareness and sensitivity toward the need for robust healthcare infrastructure. In the wake of the pandemic, the government has been quick to undertake multiple initiatives to enhance our healthcare infrastructure, including setting up new oxygen plants at hospitals, deploying extra beds, and availing tertiary care (not just primary and secondary care) across the country. 

Now, when it comes to Pharma, the positive attitude towards vaccination is a driving factor. It is a space that will continue to strengthen, given the awareness imparted and the visible impact of vaccinations like the reduction in hospitalization and decline in the mortality rates. It will also create a contagious effect on other vaccination programs, and hopefully, people will become more aware and more open to vaccines. For example, I understand that flu vaccines have started picking up in India, which people in our country were not using previously. 

The second thing is using biosimilars, monoclonal antibodies like Tocilizumab, which will now be widely accepted. The doctors have experimented and worked with these drugs and understand their importance. Hence, biosimilars will definitely emerge as an important therapy solution, and doctors will become more and more open to these areas. I believe that is another shift the healthcare industry as a whole is undergoing. 

The third aspect is the increasing collaborations between hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and the government. With the government increasing spending on healthcare, it will definitely create an impact in terms of infrastructure enhancements, wider availability of quality healthcare, and democratizing world-class medicines among people who hitherto might not have had access to them.

 

How do you see technology helping pharma organizations to elevate their relationship with healthcare industry stakeholders?
In the pharmaceutical industry, doctors are equal stakeholders as patients. It’s a great omen that in the aftermath of the pandemic and digital transformation of the healthcare domain at large, healthcare institutions now provide healthcare professionals with much broader opportunities for Continuous Medical Education (CME). Doctors can stay abreast of the medical knowledge and latest research outcomes at their convenience. On the flip side, powered by our extensive research, we constantly come up with papers and clinical data that we share with the medical community. 

On the patient side, developing creative digital solutions around patient awareness is of paramount importance. For instance, India is the diabetes capital of the world, and yet, you have people who do not fully understand the disease. Millions of people may have the disease but don’t know about it since it is not diagnosed. So the digital solutions are helping to create more awareness, democratize quality medical consultations, and extend the benefits of telemedicine. Delving deeper, these digital solutions will also open the doorway for data collection and analytics and, in turn, create actionable insights that will significantly help medical professionals in decision-making. I perceive that in the long run, you will have health data of broader populations available online, assisting doctors to make better decisions and do better investigations, eventually providing people with more healthcare opportunities for patients.

 

Zydus is well-known for unlocking new possibilities in life sciences and innovations and providing quality healthcare solutions. What are some of the latest breakthroughs?
Zydus has always been a search-backed organization. One of our recent breakthroughs is Oxemia (Desidustat), a first-of-its-kind oral treatment in India for anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The Zydus Group announced a breakthrough in its research efforts with Lipaglyn (Saroglitazar), a novel drug targeted at treating Diabetic Dyslipidemia or Hypertriglyceridemia in Type II diabetes. Beyond that, we are also looking at this as a treatment for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an aggressive form of fatty liver disease. It is the first Glitazar approved globally, and the first NCE discovered and developed indigenously by an Indian Pharma Company.

Similarly, Zydus had launched the biosimilar of AbbVie’s Adalimumab (sold under the brand name Humira), which is used for treating autoimmune disorders in India. It obviously increased the affordability of this important drug. HUMIRA was at one point in time one of the largest selling drugs worldwide. So, we have always been at the forefront of research and innovation and launching solutions. If you go back in time, we were the first to develop a vaccine for H1N1 when the flu became an epidemic. Zydus came out with an H1N1 vaccine in record time. We lead the industry through research and breakthrough solutions, helping Indian people affordably access quality medicines.

 

Could you tell me about your leadership approach? What are the methodologies and guidelines you follow as a leader?
I believe that leaders should always be accessible and available to the people. Leaders must be grounded in their approach. When I say grounded, I mean it in more than one way. One is in terms of humility and connectedness. A leader must also be grounded in knowing what is happening on the ground, whether on the shop floor or the sales field, in terms of what the doctors think or the patients need. Leaders should be able to have a holistic view, like from a helicopter at 25,000 feet, but at the same time, should be able to come down to Ground Zero. So not always, definitely not being a micromanager. 

On the other hand, they have to ensure that the teams they’re building are better than themselves. So they have to hire people who are empowered and strategic thinkers and can make decisions on their own without no constant intervention from the leader. It is also extremely important to create a conducive, empowerment-driven atmosphere, wherein innovation is encouraged, taking risks is encouraged, and failures are expected. An agile leader will encourage people to be able to take risks.

 

What would be your advice to individuals aiming to set benchmarks in this industry?
You have to have an open mind and be open to formative experiences. The best leaders will emerge when they move across functions and comprehend the organization from multiple perspectives. You should always be open to learning. Another important aspect is networking. Intra and inter-organizational networking is an important aspect of growth.