Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao said that there were no more obstacles in the way of grounding the Pharma City project at Mucherla, 40 km from here, as the State government had obtained the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) approval and the environmental clearance for it from the Centre.

The Indian pharmaceutical companies always had strong chemistry skills to work on small molecules to make generic drugs, but they lacked skills, people and ecosystem to work on large molecules to come up with reverse engineered versions of biotech drugs, many experts complain. However, it is beginning to change.

The pharmaceutical industry in the country has urged the union government to defer the applicability of newly inserted Rule 36(4) in Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST) till introduction of new system of invoicing which is scheduled to be applicable from April 1, 2020.

Industry body Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has called for a reduction in Goods and Services Tax (GST) applicable to Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in line with pharma formulations.

In a bid to ensure compliance of good clinical practice guidelines for clinical studies in India, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has stepped up inspection of clinical trial sites of biological products as well as new drugs in the country.