The ascendency of India as an economic world power

Pharmaceutical research and development is a big industry in the US because health care is very important there. I was going through the website of The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and I noticed that millions of dollars are invested in this field each year:

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures. PhRMA members alone invested an estimated $44.5 billion in 2007 in discovering and developing new medicines. Industry-wide research and investment reached a record $58.8 billion in 2007.

So, it is a good market to tap into for Indian companies. The good thing is that China and India are becoming attractive to western companies in this regard.

Economic Times wrote:

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation-sponsored study shows that big companies such as Merck, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson are now counting on India and China for advanced R&D as well.

The study found that in 2006, 5.5 percent of all global pharmaceutical patent applications (WIPO PCT applications) named one inventor or more located in India, and 8.4 percent named one or more located in China. This is a fourfold increase since 1995.

Indian firms researchers talked to included Aurobindo Pharma, Biocon India, Cipla, Dabur Pharma, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Ranbaxy.