Dilip G Shah, founder of Indian
Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), an industry association that played a key role
in Indian generic drug makers’ growth in the country and abroad, passed away in
Mumbai on Friday. He was 77.
Known
in the industry as ‘DG’, Shah started Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) in
early 2000s, at a time when Indian pharmaceutical companies were trying to find
their feet in the global pharma landscape that was dominated by the
multinationals, predominantly based out of Europe and the US.
Indian
drug makers, who were struggling for validation of their products, became a
saviour to countries in Africa and Asia that could not afford the high price
tag that original drug makers had placed on life saving drugs, specifically
those fighting HIV and AIDS.
Shah
played a key role in helping the generic industry with its so-called ‘copycat’
drugs break the monopoly of big pharma in these countries, which were
criticised by the West for not respecting the IP (intellectual property) laws.
“Shah
was a torchbearer of the pharma industry both in India and globally,” said
Dilip Shanghvi, managing director at the country’s largest drug maker Sun
Pharma. “He tirelessly worked with the government and industry to find the right
balance between protecting innovation and providing access to life-saving
medication. He was a mentor to me and his guidance has helped numerous pharma
companies achieve their potential. With his demise, the pharma industry has
lost one of its shining stars and I have lost a dear friend and mentor,” he
told ET.
Glenn
Saldanha, president of IPA and MD of Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharma, said Shah’s
demise is a great loss to the entire pharmaceutical industry and his
contributions in the areas of advocacy, strategic planning, advisory and
knowledge sharing have been invaluable.
An
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad alumnus, Shah spent most of his
five-decade long pharma career with multinational drug companies, like Pfizer.
He
made a role switch when he decided to take up the cause of Indian drug makers.
IPA positioned itself as the voice of generic drug companies that challenged
intellectual property rights rules after lower-income countries like India
signed the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
IPA
represented the interests of Indian drug companies that were under pressure
from TRIPS agreement.
Some
industry veterans recall that at times Shah was even more powerful than the
Indian CEOs whose interests he represented to the bureaucrats and ministers in
Delhi.
In
the last two decades since Shah floated IPA, the Indian generic drug industry
has grown to become a $5- billion industry, as some of the local companies have
gone on to establish their names in the global pharma market, predominantly the
the US.
In
the last two years, Shah and IPA were involved in some run-ins with the Indian
drug pricing regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).
IPA has also been working with the US drug regulators on addressing quality
issues of Indian drug makers, which has halted the industry’s growth in the
last three years.
One
remark that many industry leaders made about Shah is that he was a one-man
army. With his demise, they said, the Indian pharma industry has lost its
voice.
Source: THE ECONOMIC TIMES-23rd February,2019
