Union minister of commerce and industry Suresh Prabhu in a fireside chat with Telangana IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on the third day of the 15th edition of BioAsia at HICC on Saturday. —DC

Hyderabad: The pharma industry was a consuming one and so it needed to keep tab on the healthcare needs and purchasing habits of people, said Union minister Suresh Prabhu at the BioAsia conclave on Saturday. “With increasing life expectancy of people globally and locally, there will be lot of people who want to look good which is an opportunity for creating anti-ageing products,” he said, adding that due to development there were increasing lifestyle diseases which the pharma sector should look at and tap.

“There are a good number of companies which are developing molecules and getting approvals at global level. India has become the pharma capital of the world and is helping many countries with affordable drugs and vaccines. Our industry should be positioned to take advantage of new technology and changing demographics,” said Mr Prabhu

He advised the life sciences industry to take advantage of emerging trends of the world as predictive medicine would be important and asked the sector to prepare for genomics. He cited the example of Angelina Jolie who discovered that she carried a faulty copy of the BRCA1 gene which put her at risk of cancer.

“India should look at the genomic opportunity given by the 7.5 billion population of the world. Industry should be able to earn enough to invest in new molecule,” he said.

He said the industry would be given thrust at all meetings with foreign delegations in his role as Union minister of industries and commerce.

“We cannot ignore that people get medicines from ayurveda and sidha. So, the development of pharma should also look at auryveda towards holistic healthcare,” the minister added.

Hyderabad is the drug capital of the country and the government would work in collaboration with Telangana government and pharma industry, Mr Prabhu said

At the media briefing after the session, he said the Central was thinking of setting up a war room to monitor all investments, including domestic, and determining problems faced by investors.