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What It Takes To Drive
Innovation In India's Medical Device Sector
Medical Device Innovations in India
Innovations / R & D can facilitate faster growth of
Indian Medical Device Industry. Government of India has
already initiated number of activities for nurturing a
robust ecosystem for medical device innovations. This,
supported by contributions by all the stakeholders of
the Indian Medical Device Industry can play a major role
in making India a global leader in the medical device
sector.
The Cover Story in this issue of the magazine
highlights various government initiates by Government as
well as contributions by individual entrepreneurs and
companies.
A new report points out India's enormous potential to
become a global medical device powerhouse.
Collaboration among stakeholders in India could be the
key to promoting further the development of quality,
high-end medical devices that can pinpoint and address
patient needs and offer sustainability.
KPMG in India, together with the Asia Pacific Medical
Technology Association, recently published a report that
underlines existing policies and initiatives that enable
innovation in India's medical device sector. It also
highlights challenges and offers recommendations for
addressing them. Ultimately, the report aims to serve as
a guide to stakeholders in navigating the transformation
journey of the medical device sector.
WHY IT MATTERS
The report identified six key themes that will drive
innovation in India's medical devices sector:
1. Supportive regulations and policies: the report
suggests that the Drugs, Medical Devices & Cosmetics
Bill 2022, an upcoming legislation that will update the
Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940, consider medical
devices as independent of pharmaceutical products, as
well as cater to the nuances of the medical device
sector. It also encourages India's alignment with global
norms and standards and to explore regulatory reliance
and convergence with other regulators and available
international standards. India must also strive to
simplify and streamline IP processes that will help
reduce the cost associated with maintaining IP. Finally,
having a strong monitoring mechanism is recommended to
ensure prompt implementation of policies and
initiatives.
2. Incentivising research: KPMG noted some areas that
can be incentivised to promote research, including tax
incentives for innovation, research grants, workforce
training, clinical trials, and patent box regimes.
3. Robust digital infrastructure: In implementing the
Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act and other
data privacy laws, India should promote the use of data
for innovation without compromising the safety of
sensitive data, KPMG suggests. The country should adopt
more digital health technologies, such as AI-driven
diagnostics, telemedicine, and wearable devices, but
also ensure that necessary funds are allocated for both
maintaining its existing digital stack and expanding
digital capabilities. The National Medical Device
Policy, which was released this year, already qualified
that investments in 5G and IoMT will be key in boosting
innovation in the country.
4. Making public-private partnerships (PPP) mainstream:
It is suggested that manufacturers leverage PPPs
frequently. The Indian government, meanwhile, should
facilitate dialogue and promote partnerships between
public-sector academia, healthcare providers and
private-sector medical device players. Medical device
companies should forge partnerships aimed at serving the
domestic market.
5. Conducive ecosystem: A dialogue between hospitals,
manufacturers, and start-ups can be the key to spurring
the growth of medical devices in India, the KPMG report
contends. In propping up a globally-inclined startup
ecosystem, India can position its academic and research
institutions, with the support of manufacturers, as its
base. Meanwhile, the government can channel resources in
a specific area of medical technology in medical device
parks to reduce competition for investments. It is also
recommended that manufacturers highlight clinical
evidence and publish results in industry journals to
build consumer trust. Investors should explore
innovative funding models like risk-sharing and assist
manufacturers in accessing global markets. Finally,
healthcare providers can work closely with innovators to
identify patient needs, evaluate solutions, and provide
design inputs, as well as adopt and integrate their
digital tools to create an interoperable ecosystem. They
can also offer testbeds to help validate new products.
6. Workforce upskilling and cross-skilling:
Industry-academia collaborations can also be avenues for
upskilling the workforce, the report notes. It is also
recommended that organisations train their workforce on
assembling high-end devices, and learn about R&D,
product life cycle management and manufacturing so they
can add value to the innovation life cycle. It is said
that a conducive environment to grow and learn is
necessary to retain employees and build their skills.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Still at its nascent stage, the Indian medical device
sector, whose manufacturing is presently focused on
consumables and disposables, is projected to grow to a
$50 billion sector by 2030 from $11 billion last year.
The KPMG report notes how India seeks to evolve the
sector into a global leader and powerhouse. From
focusing on developing technologies that help reduce
healthcare costs, it is transitioning to a value-based
and innovation-driven sector. It is also pushing for
self-reliance in manufacturing medical devices,
encouraging local innovation, and ensuring accessibility
and affordability of medical devices across the
population. However, local medical device innovation is
hindered by a shortfall in skilled workforce, limits in
infrastructure, and inadequate insurance coverage.
To meet these challenges, the government has played a
crucial role in catalysing innovation in local medical
device production by launching several initiatives,
including the National Policy on Research and
Development and Innovation in Pharma- MedtechSector, the
Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-Medtech
scheme, the National Medical Device Policy, the
Assistance to Medical Device Clusters for Common
Facilities, the National Research Foundation Bill, the
Production Linked Incentives scheme, and the Promotion
of Medical Device Parks scheme. In 2021, the government,
through the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance
Council, launched an incentive scheme supporting 75
startups in telemedicine, digital health and AI.
Besides the government, research institutes, such as the
Indian Council of Medical Research, academic research
institutions, and even private players like startups and
local medtech enterprises, have been instrumental in
advancing medical device R&D.
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia/what-it-takesdrive-innovation-indias-medical-device-sector
November 07, 2023 |
