Though India is on a race with China for the volumes it can produce to meet the demands of the pharma industry, value addition and knowledge will help the country grab the number one position, B Sivathanu Pillai, chief controller (research and development), DRDO said here on Saturday.

A recent report raises awareness of the impact of pharmaceuticals in the environment. Experts from science, industry and the state sector have drawn up a series of proposals for actions that need to be taken at the European level to increase understanding and improve management of the risks.

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer Schering Pharma AG said Friday it will invest heavily in Asia by doubling its sales team in India and tripling its workforce in Vietnam and that it plans to increase its sales by above market average growth rates in the region in the long-term.

In the late nineties, when big pharmaceutical companies starting feeling the burden of over-sized research units in the face of a dwindling pipeline of molecules, they started looking at ways to source manufacturing at lower costs and to farm out semi-skilled chemistry work to Indian companies.