Learning and innovation in the Indian pharmaceutical industry: the role of IPR and other policy interventions

Through the decades of 1970s and 1980s, the Indian pharmaceutical industry (IPR) reached new heights of process capabilities. At the present juncture, however, the industry is at a watershed, trying to cope with the challenges of globalisation and reforms. It is going through a turbulent phase of adjustment driven by the emerging international economic order of the WTO, especially the TRIPS agreement establishing a new IPR environment. The aim of this paper is to explore the trajectory of learning and innovation in the IPR as it evolved through the various phases of government policy environment and IPR regimes. We conclude that although India has reached impressive heights of technological maturity in pharmaceuticals, it is yet to arrive at the global frontiers of cutting edge drug discovery research. This can only be achieved through sustained technological effort and continued R&D.