Medical Technology: Vision 2025 roadmap for the way forward

Roadmap for a Vibrant Medical Technology Industry in India

Source: Vision 2025 — CII brainstorming sessions held on December 2013 and April 2014.

Boston Consulting Group and Confederation of Indian Industry after several months of deliberation has created a roadmap to create a $50 billion opportunity in the medical technology space in India. Collectively, they have identified six areas to work on to create the right supporting ecosystem. BCG and CII have highlighted four ‘quick wins’ and two longer–term initiatives which will help develop this ecosystem.

Quick wins are initiatives which should be implemented within the next 12 months as these are crucial for the further growth of the medical technology industry.

Quick wins

Medical technology relevant regulation

Regulations should be in place that are dedicated, predictable, transparent, globally harmonised and appropriate for medical devices. It could preferably be based on a separate medical device regulatory act and governed by an independent regulatory body with specialised regulators. If that is not achievable in the short term, at the very least, it is being recommend that the Government should include industry inputs and pass the Drugs & Cosmetics Amendment Bill 2013, which can then provide a starting point to separate medical devices from drugs and pharmaceuticals.

A “one–window” institution needs to be created to ease the regulatory burden for the industry and reduce the bureaucracy associated with approval for development, technology transfer and manufacturing.

The Government has to promote transparent and evidence-based pricing and reimbursement policies. It needs to develop a dynamic procurement mechanism for assessing the clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness of a medical technology to determine its merit for inclusion in public insurance schemes.

The Government should table discussions on a PPP framework for operationalisation of partnerships as well as discussions around training and accreditation, particularly when it comes to healthcare workers.

Reward local and market relevant innovation

A national innovation policy linked to the disease profile is required and should be organised in a way that results in innovation which are locally relevant in India can be rewarded.

Initiatives like BIRAC to medical technology should be expanded; these initiatives should be broadened to cover more research and support more local innovation. These schemes should provide seed capital, viability gap funding, co-fund start-up projects and support the commercialisation of innovations.

The Government should create strong incentives for commercialisation of ideas by creating access to reimbursement in the Government funded schemes using a value based approach.

A longer-term view (10 years window) for 200 per cent weighted tax deduction on approved expenditure on R&D activities should be provided as the gestation period is high in this industry.

Build manufacturing infrastructure

Streamline the process of setting up manufacturing facilities in India by designating medical technology hubs with the right infrastructure in place to support complex medical technology manufacturing.

Create training hubs around these manufacturing hubs to ensure a ready supply of trained talent to support these hubs. Industry to assure recruitment from these hubs.

Manufacturing incentives for example, tax support, low cost funding should be provided to spur investments and to make the busi­ness case attractive.

Collaborative partnerships

Close coordinated working with academic institutes to build global partnerships with medical technology companies who don’t have access to India. Need to select three institutes which will drive this collaboration with industry.

Create industry sponsored programmes between local and global industry on joint collaboration projects using relationships with specific trade bodies and industry fora.

Address the capability shortfall in crucial areas holistically by building select partnerships in procurement, testing, calibration and clinical trials which limits the extent of investment in innovation in India.

Initiatives

Capability development and training

Industry and academia should jointly define the expectations from new graduates. Based on these requirements, the academia must put together a curriculum designed at developing the desired skill sets.

Academia should cultivate a culture of collaboration on campus by providing the necessary platforms for interaction with industry. Universities must facilitate interaction between the students of medical technology and business management to ensure cross–pollination of knowledge.

Healthcare sector skill council to take as a priority the development of the medical technology skill set. This should form part of their mandate and drive the right talent development initiatives. Allocate funds to set up centres of excellence for medical technology training.

Integrated stakeholder forum for meaningful engagement

Coordinated awareness effort of multiple stakeholders led by an industry body to ensure that the benefits of medical technol­ogy innovation in the country are well understood by all.

Global task force to promote India as a manufacturing and R&D hub globally through targeted specific fora to build bi-lateral dialogue.

CII will further need to coordinate between all stakeholders to take the Vision 2025 forward, and it is vital that this effort starts soon.