3 ways digital technology can help drug makers fight COVID-19

Jul 21, 2020

An employee works inside a laboratory at Piramal's Research Centre in Mumbai August 11, 2014. Indian drugmakers are fleeing a regulatory morass at home and moving some research and development to Europe and the United States as they try to boost margins by producing high-value drugs. Companies like Piramal Enterprises Ltd, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Lupin Ltd are investing millions of dollars and placing their future growth in foreign regulators' hands, as they seek to add more complex drugs to their product lines. Picture taken August 11, 2014. To match INDIA-PHARMACEUTICALS/RESEARCH/ REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: HEALTH BUSINESS DRUGS SOCIETY SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) - GM1EA8T0EJC01

Drug makers are crucial in the fight against COVID-19 - but their own supplies have been disrupted. Image: REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Karishma Banga

Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute (ODI)

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The pharmaceutical industry must be a driver of change in the digital era

Export intensity in Indian pharma firms in the global value chain (%). Digital capability index is constructed using principal component analysis on the share of software, technology, and communication assets in total sales of the firm. Digital leaders are those firms in which digital capability index is above the median value of the industry, while digital followers are those with digital capability index below the median value. Panel covers 2001-2015. Average values are statistically significantly different at 1%. Image: Prowess

Share in global pharmaceutical patents. Image: Prowess

R&D intensity in Indian pharma firms in the global value chain. Panel covers 2001-2015. The average values are statistically significantly different at 1%. Image: Prowess

Product sophistication index in Indian pharma firms in the global value chain. Image: Prowess

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