Global multinational drug companies need to outsource manufacturing to low-cost destinations like India has turned out to be a boon for leading drug companies in India such as Ranbaxy, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Aurobindo.

2007 was the year that pharma fell in love with biologics, but as the saying goes, you can't love someone else before you love yourself. 2009 was the year pharma fell in love with itself.

Indian companies engaged in discovery of new drugs have twisted the model as many molecules licensed to foreign collaborators failed to reach the market. This so-called outlicensing strategy has been revised and the domestic companies are conducting a larger part of the initial trials themselves, choosing to license out the molecules much later than they used to.

India's pharmaceutical sector has stepped up its research & development expenditure in a bid to capture a larger market share in highly regulated and emerging markets.