Pharma & Life Sciences

As one of the fastest growing sectors in India, the pharmaceutical and biotech industry is witnessing exponential growth. A key component of such growth is India’s ability to provide lower cost research and development to multinational companies. India’s rich talent pool of nearly 13.5 million science graduates, growing at the rate of 36% provides an ideal platform for global pharmaceutical companies to outsource drug development processes. Manufacturing costs that are 30-40% lower than those in the United States and Western Europe in addition to labor costs that are one-seventh of that in the United States make India an attractive destination for global multinational drug makers to outsource their business activities to India.

The 2005 Amendment to India’s Patent Act significantly catalyzed drug discovery by allowing protection for products. The subsequent increase in the number of issued patents has in turn increased the number of patent litigations between multinational players and domestic generic drug makers. The industry has witnessed a shift in traditionally “generic” companies who are now seeking global recognition by investing in drug discovery rather than being recognized as “copycat” companies. India is in the midst of a never before seen number of mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical space where domestic companies have intensified discovery research in order to strengthen product pipelines. In addition, the number of clinical trials taking place in India is expected to contribute to 5% of the number of global clinical trials by 2012.

Recent development in the regulations for Clinical trials in India would have more companies looking at more legal advice. Stemcell research and medical device sectors which are not regulated are likely to get regulated soon. This would significantly increase India activities for companies which would lead to increase in legal advice.The capability of NDA’s Pharma and Life Sciences team to understand the scientific technicalities that are ingrained in pharmaceutical and life sciences and healthcare industry transactions position NDA as a leading multi-disciplinary law firm for the Life Sciences practice.

The Pharma and Life Sciences Practice at Candour Legal (“CL”) advises international and Indian companies on the legal, IP, regulatory, corporate laws and tax. The Pharma & Life Sciences Practice group includes an attorney with 14 years of practice in IPR Litigation, an international commercial law expert, Indian Patent Agents, a United States Patent Attorney, chemical and biomedical engineers and IP attorneys. The ability of CL’s Pharma and Life Sciences team to understand the scientific technicalities that are ingrained in pharmaceutical and life sciences and healthcare industry transactions position CL as a leading firm for the Life Sciences practice. The firm’s multidisciplinary philosophy whereby each attorney is well-versed on each of the firm’s practice groups creates a cutting edge advantage that provides comprehensive services to its clients.