Author: Piyush Pranay Nirban

Key Points

1. Introduction
2. Outsourcing of India
3. Project Management
4. Factors influencing the rise of medical outsourcing companies.
5. Outsourcing Exposure
6. Reference

Introduction

India is becoming an attractive destination for outsourcing biotech services by global biopharmaceutical companies and industries. According to the 11th Annual Report on Bio-pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Production Capacity, the Bio Plan workers ranked India fourth in the world as a potential outsourcing destination. The report interlocutor gave it ‘likely’ & ‘highly likely’ option. According to the survey, companies can seek CDMOs suitable for long-term support of bio-pharmaceutical development projects from the manufacturing of clinical supplies.

As ‘BigPharma’ continues to find ways to reduce bio-pharmaceutical development and manufacturing costs, India’s Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) are seen as beneficial service providers that comply with the required technical expertise.

Additionally to reducing the cost of goods, many companies could potentially outsource the production of their biopharmaceuticals to Asia for sales in a specific market in the region. In addition, the same companies may look to India in particular to develop biosimilars for the domestic market first, with the United States and Europe being the final destinations once the appropriate regulatory pathways are in place.

Outsourcing to India

Surprisingly, India’s home grown talent has traveled west to find better job opportunities. But the Indian government, multinational corporations, and big local pharmaceutical companies are working hard to attract and retain domestic talent. India’s status as a new Economic Powerhouse has also been an important factor in attracting foreign talent. Programs designed to attract Non-Resident Indian’s (NRIs) to return to India include programs organized by the GOI like Ramanujan Fellowship, and INSPIRE program.

It should be noted that English is the preferred language for writing in India, Standard Operating Procedures, Change Controls, Batch Records and all reports are in English and do not require any translation. It facilitates cross-company communication and project management for CDMO projects.

Western-trained and experienced senior executives and global partnerships have greatly enhanced the overall scientific the acumen of these companies. Meanwhile, CDMOs focus more on building management teams with international experience and the ability to operate globally.

Project Management

Based on the client’s project requirements, many Indian CDMOs provide flexibility in the work schedule to allow for the required overlap in working hours between clients and CDMO project teams for meetings and discussions. Flexible approaches to work schedules are essential to managing the time zone challenge. Flexible approaches to work schedules have been remarkably successful in the IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries in India to manage the challenges posed by time zone differences. Several companies are also bridging the communication gap by implementing detailed training for their employees to ensure that nothing gets lost in translation.

Setting up and implementing efficient project management systems are critical tasks for managing all outsourcing activities. Generating biopharmaceutical contracts is highly dependent on smooth and efficient knowledge transfer and regular interactions between product sponsors and the CDMO. There are two practical challenges to be addressed when outsourcing to India: time zone differences and effective means of communication.

Technological advances have helped bridge the gap in these capabilities between Indian CDMOs and their Western counter parts. Frequent use of video chats, emails, and internet network capabilities ensures effective communication.

Factors influencing the rise of medical outsourcing companies

According to the survey, the desire to increase satisfaction of customer and to save money is the elements that hospitals consider when viewing about outsourcing.

As the number of hospital admissions around the world is increased, so the demand for efficient healthcare services also enriched. Introducing digitization in health care operation leads to superior outcomes. This type of a start will help healthcare companies to work effectively in the future. AI enables increased efficiency and accuracy of the transactions. It also helps to save costs. Healthcare companies offer such facilities to healthcare operators. The market is growing and is likely to grow further in the upcoming years.

Outsourcing Exposure

Even though bio-pharmaceutical outsourcing in India is relatively new, India has demonstrated its potential in outsourcing various knowledge-based or advanced processes that require specialized expertise. These include Research and Development, financial analysis, data mining, risk assessment, investment research, tax preparation, clinical trials, legal services, etc.

India is one of the major exporters of over-the-counter and prescription drugs in the pharmaceutical industry to the United States. Indian pharmaceutical industry supplies 40% of retail and generic prescription drugs used in the US.

In consequence, Indian CDMOs have decades of experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. This has enabled them to create business practices and quality systems that meet global standards.

Reference 

1. The 11th Annual report & survey of bio pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity and production.
2. The pharmaceutical industry in India, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry_in_Indi
3. Healthcare BPO market – growth, trends, covid-19 impact, and forecasts (2022 – 2027) {Mordor Intellegence}
4. Outsourcing In Hospitals – heathmanagement.org
5. Asian Hospital and Healthcare Management – Inside a global leader in medical imaging solutions.
6. Global Business Review 2021
7. The Pharma Outsourcing (Journal) 2022
8. Journal of Pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing 2022
9. MPO Magazine – Outsourcing Blog 2019
10. Upcoming Challenges and opportunities in Healthcare outsourcing – Outsourcingcenter.com