New Delhi: The scheme for Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma MedTech sector (PRIP) will boost cost-effective and affordable healthcare solutions in India, said the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers on Thursday.
The scheme has been launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals to transform India into a global powerhouse for R&D in the Pharma MedTech sector.
The scheme was notified on August 17, 2023, with a total financial outlay of Rs 5,000 crore, of which Rs 4,250 crore is focused on accelerating investments in the R&D ecosystem within the sector.
“The PRIP Scheme is focussed on enabling research and innovation for the health challenges of tomorrow, with the aim of supporting innovative, cost-effective, and affordable healthcare solutions that can strengthen both domestic and global healthcare ecosystems,” said Amit Agrawal, Secretary, of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, at an Industry dialogue organised on the PRIP scheme in Mumbai.
Agrawal emphasised the importance of futuristic products and the “need for affordable healthcare solutions as fundamental pillars of India’s global leadership in pharmaceuticals and medical technology”.
He highlighted that data-driven markets will play a transformative role in shaping the future of Pharma-MedTech R&D and stressed that India, with its highly diverse gene pool and as home to one-sixth of the world’s population, holds a unique comparative advantage in developing personalised and precision medicines.
The event served as a platform for industry leaders, associations, and research institutes from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs) to engage in discussions on strengthening industry-academia linkages. The experts also deliberated on fostering collaboration and leveraging government initiatives to accelerate R&D and commercialise innovative solutions in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors.
Besides details of the PRIP Scheme, other Government initiatives which promote and enable research innovation in the sector, such as ICMR’s Patent Mitra, MedTech Mitra, and Intent programmes provide support for patent filing, facilitating the innovation journey and clinical trials and the CSIR’s Innovation Complex at Mumbai for translational work connecting research institutions and industry were also shown.
(IANS)
