Industry veteran and mentor to many, Ranjit Shahani steered Novartis India with seeming calm through a rocky phase when the Glivec patent case ruling didn't go the Swiss multinational's way - perhaps not unusual for someone who had seen the ebbs and flows of life closely when his parents moved to India as refugees from Pakistan.

The arrival of an indigenous CAR-T cell therapy, a shot at GLP-1s and Parkinson’s disease, strides into adjacencies and an “easy revenue stream” formula for products set to lose exclusivity are some of the striking developments seen playing out in India. Industry leaders, including Cipla’s CEO, share their views with Scrip on some of the key trends in the first instalment of this two-part roundup.

Private equity-controlled J B Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, which recently snapped up a basket of ophthalmology brands from Novartis in India, expects to drive momentum to make key product franchises bigger and stronger, while also building on the CDMO business. 

Backed with $500m to look into the mechanistic underpinnings of unmet medical needs, Arena BioWorks will employ a hub-and-spoke model to incubate biotechs around a central technology hub.