India is well positioned to attract future investments, says Eli Lilly's Patrick Johnson
India must step up and actively pursue accelerated regulatory review pathways without sacrificing the quality, said Patrick Johnson, executive vice president of Eli Lilly and Company and President of Lilly International in an interview with ET's Teena Thacker. He added that other markets are doing the same strategy and therefore India needs to become more competitive. Edited Excerpts:
Eli Lilly has a R&D presence in India. What is the scale of Lilly's financial commitment to India going forward?
India is well positioned to attract future investments. You look at the science, look at academia, look at the workforce, the talent, you know, I think you are super well positioned. Can it be improved further? Yes.
I think there are also some additional things that could make India even more attractive for future investments. We saw some positive signs now with the announcement to increase accredited clinical trial sites.
If we look at, for example, regulatory data protection, that is something that exists, more or less in all markets, and that is extremely important, not just for Lilly, but for the entire research-based industry. When you reflect on the hundreds of millions of dollars that are invested to generate clinical efficacy data, chemical safety data, I think it is probably realistic to ask for a few years of protection prior to competition. The second area would probably be around the regulatory review process. In India, there are three steps, and it could take up to one and a half years. The third one would be harmonisation with international guidelines in terms of clinical trials. Faster, predictable, and globally aligned clinical trial approvals are critical for India to attract high-value research, strengthen scientific capability and capacity, and enable earlier access to innovative therapies.
So, data protection is critical?
Yes, absolutely. If you are investing billions of dollars, you need to make sure that there is enough time to recoup those investments, and you do not want anyone to piggyback on what you have done.
But I think that is a win even for the generic industry. 'Because if you do not have decent regulatory data protection, you will have fewer innovative medicines being submitted to the Indian regulatory authority for approval.
What about affordability as India is a price sensitive country?
There would not be a single generic if you did not have innovative firms.
So, I think the basic condition to getting access to innovative medicines is that you are supporting the innovative industry and the price in India very much reflects the adjustment of GDP per capita here. So, it is not that Indians are being charged German prices or American prices. The price point in India is generally significantly lower.
How has Lilly's performance evolved since the launch of Mounjaro, and Zepbound? And what's the outlook from here?
Our performance is strong. We are one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies across the globe right now. And I think it is driven by the fact that you are bringing a new medicine that meets a significant unmet medical need. We continued to lean in on R&D and now we are bringing medicines in type 2 diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and breast cancer.
So, the outlook is quite positive.
Eli Lilly is widely associated with GLP-1 weight loss drugs, but how significant is its pipeline beyond that - specifically in Alzheimer's disease and oncology?
Donanemab for Alzheimer's will be launched in India in 2026 subject to regulatory approvals.
We also have an oral GLP-1 under regulatory review outside India. The third one would be retatrutide, a triple agonist. We saw the highest weight loss ever in a study, above 28%. Besides that, we are also engaged in oncology and immune-mediated diseases.
Eli Lilly has a R&D presence in India. What is the scale of Lilly's financial commitment to India going forward?
India is well positioned to attract future investments. You look at the science, look at academia, look at the workforce, the talent, you know, I think you are super well positioned. Can it be improved further? Yes.
I think there are also some additional things that could make India even more attractive for future investments. We saw some positive signs now with the announcement to increase accredited clinical trial sites.
If we look at, for example, regulatory data protection, that is something that exists, more or less in all markets, and that is extremely important, not just for Lilly, but for the entire research-based industry. When you reflect on the hundreds of millions of dollars that are invested to generate clinical efficacy data, chemical safety data, I think it is probably realistic to ask for a few years of protection prior to competition. The second area would probably be around the regulatory review process. In India, there are three steps, and it could take up to one and a half years. The third one would be harmonisation with international guidelines in terms of clinical trials. Faster, predictable, and globally aligned clinical trial approvals are critical for India to attract high-value research, strengthen scientific capability and capacity, and enable earlier access to innovative therapies.
So, data protection is critical?
Yes, absolutely. If you are investing billions of dollars, you need to make sure that there is enough time to recoup those investments, and you do not want anyone to piggyback on what you have done.
But I think that is a win even for the generic industry. 'Because if you do not have decent regulatory data protection, you will have fewer innovative medicines being submitted to the Indian regulatory authority for approval.
What about affordability as India is a price sensitive country?
There would not be a single generic if you did not have innovative firms.
So, I think the basic condition to getting access to innovative medicines is that you are supporting the innovative industry and the price in India very much reflects the adjustment of GDP per capita here. So, it is not that Indians are being charged German prices or American prices. The price point in India is generally significantly lower.
How has Lilly's performance evolved since the launch of Mounjaro, and Zepbound? And what's the outlook from here?
Our performance is strong. We are one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies across the globe right now. And I think it is driven by the fact that you are bringing a new medicine that meets a significant unmet medical need. We continued to lean in on R&D and now we are bringing medicines in type 2 diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and breast cancer.
So, the outlook is quite positive.
Eli Lilly is widely associated with GLP-1 weight loss drugs, but how significant is its pipeline beyond that - specifically in Alzheimer's disease and oncology?
Donanemab for Alzheimer's will be launched in India in 2026 subject to regulatory approvals.
We also have an oral GLP-1 under regulatory review outside India. The third one would be retatrutide, a triple agonist. We saw the highest weight loss ever in a study, above 28%. Besides that, we are also engaged in oncology and immune-mediated diseases.
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