Bravo Pharma has its corporate office in United Kingdom and subsidiaries in Estonia, Uzbekistan, Uganda, Dubai, India, USA and Sweden. Over the years it has been manufacturing pharmaceutical products and actively involved in their distribution and sales in India, Central Asia & Eastern European countries. Year by year its activities have extended to different areas of healthcare. At present Bravo companies cover the whole value chain in healthcare, including applied research and product development, diagnostic services, treatment, global healthcare, production and sales. Bravo Pharma has its own diagnostic laboratories and medical centres, pharmaceutical factories, pharmacies, mobile laboratories and telemedicine centres. Bravo's applied research and product development projects are carried out in collaboration with universities, research centres and innovative SME-s. Rakesh Pandey, CMD - Bravo Pharma in an interaction with BioSpectrum talks about Antimicrobial Resistance and more.

 Tell us something about Bravo Pharma?

Bravo Pharma cares for the protection and enhancement of human health and well-being on all levels. The spectrum of our activities ranges from supporting education in life sciences and strengthening start-ups in health technologies, offering novel solutions for diagnostics and personalised treatment to production and sales of pharmaceuticals.

Bravo Pharma name relates to high quality products and services. The constant, high quality level of our products is guaranteed by following the strict regulations of drug development, validation and production. Bravo productions sites are in accordance with the quality norms stipulated by European regulations

Our mission is to improve human health and quality of life by providing innovative diagnostics, e-health solutions, personalised treatment, high quality affordable pharmaceuticals and new generation health products.

Bravo Pharma uses most modern and innovative technologies in drug development, targeted therapy and non-invasive diagnostics. Our production sites are set up according to European standards and follow all the norms and regulations in regard of drug safety, quality control and drug identification. We support human health and well-being by developing and producing health products including vitamins, probiotics, herbal products and Ayurvedic formulas. In addition to the existing modern diagnostic laboratories our project portfolio includes new solutions for self-testing enabling people to monitor their health condition in the privacy of their homes. Our genetic test development involves tests for detecting hereditary diseases and genetic risks and tests for selecting appropriate diet and lifestyle.

What are your views on the move taken by National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) to reduce the price of anti-cancer drugs?

Now that the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) has reduced the price of anti-cancer drugs, the treatment will be accessible to all and it’s a very good move by them. Since we are exporter of the drugs, it does not affect us and we basically appreciate the price reduction because our company is an export oriented and the target market is Africa and Central Asia and the price reduction gives us advantage in the market because we first export medicines from India in bulk to our units in Europe and Africa and Central Asia and after that it's further processed to sold in those markets.

For the consumer in Indian markets the price is going to pay a big role and it will be one of the important factors to improve the availability to the mass consumers and ultimately it will lead to a volume based big market for the product. Although this move is obviously not good in terms of business for the Pharma companies which are import oriented and their target market is India. Although we feel that this is great step gains significance in the government’s attempt to provide affordable healthcare. The authority has noted that despite the fact that India is the pharmacy of the world, out-of-pocket expenses on medicines is the largest cause for pushing families beyond poverty threshold. The pharma companies on the other hand can now target the volume based big markets otherwise it’s not going to benefit them.

How crucial is the role of pharma industry when it comes to AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance)?

India is one of the largest consumers of antibiotics worldwide and antibiotic sale is increasing rapidly. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a major threat to public health estimated to cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050. India carries one of the largest burdens of drug-resistant pathogens worldwide.

There is a need of integrating AMR education in medical education. AMR develops when microbes develop mechanisms to evade the action of antimicrobials. The factors that contribute to AMR include irrational and overuse of antibiotics.

The pharma companies should start creating the awareness about the subspecialty of infectious diseases and strengthen laboratory services. The industry should also focus on having an AMR policy including infection control, improvement in hygiene, and sanitation and antibiotic use. An element of research needs to be integrated into the AMR policy and encouragement of the pharmaceutical industry to develop “Superbug Antibiotics’’. Unless AMR is addressed effectively the gains made in health are likely to be lost.

What are the future plans of the company? (Any collaboration in the pipeline or any new product to be launched)

Bravo Pharma offers various services for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies across the globe for collaborative business opportunities including formulation research & development, technology transfer, support to regulatory affairs, registrations, pre-clinical and clinical research and contract manufacturing.

International strategic partnerships are critically important for the success of business development. We are always open to form new long term collaborative relations with research institutions, knowledge-intensive SME-s, big pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical institutions, private researches and medical doctors.

In future we are open to new ideas or proposal for future collaborations as our current collaboration is with Max Healthcare, Apollo, university college London, Oxford Consultancy, MMC Healthcare, KMPG, BIOCC etc.