BioAsia, the annual flagship event of the Government of Telangana, will start from February 22, 2018 at HICC in the city of Hyderabad - the life sciences hub of India. This year the event completes 15 successful years of bringing together all the stakeholder of Pharma and Life Sciences sector from national and international arena. During this journey, BioAsia has emerged as the most preeminent technology and bio-business convention in Asia for Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. This event scheduled for February 22 - 24, 2018 is expected to witness participation of 1,500 delegates from over 55 countries with 100 High profile speakers and 500 Corporates.

The Life Sciences sector in India is facing unprecedented change, driven by a convergence of demographic growth, urbanization, digitization, and a continued push on financial inclusion. At the same time, the evolving regulatory regime in price control, generic drugs, and the implementation of GST has brought healthcare stakeholders back to the drawing board. Some of the Mega Trends (enclosed) in the sector suggests a need for companies to relook at their existing strategies and reorient their business models. With the theme of RIGHT TIME, RIGHT NOW BioAsia 2018 will deliberate on the strategies to take on this rapid pace of change, innovative ways to develop new models for distribution & healthcare delivery and the opportunities exist right now for the Life Sciences value chain.

Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa are the International Partners for the 15^thEdition of the event whereas the States of Gujarat, Assam and Rajasthan are the Indian State partners for the event. A high-profile delegation from these regions will be attending a series meeting to explore the business opportunities, collaborations in the field of research & innovation and sharing know-how to meet the requirement of affordable drugs and treatment for emerging diseases.

Mr. KT Rama Rao, Minister for Industries and Commerce, IT, E&C, MAUD, Mines & Geology, Public Enterprises and NRI Affairs, Govt. of Telangana said, “Hyderabad has always been known as the top Pharma and Life Sciences destination worldwide. Genome Valley, has become the largest innovation and life sciences cluster in Asia and has the privilege of being India's first and only systematically developed R&D and clean manufacturing ecosystem, is a shining example of Telangana’s dominant position in Life Sciences sector. With new industrial clusters like Pharma City and Medical Devices park, Hyderabad is ready to assume leadership role of the life sciences industry in Asia and the world. BioAsia has been an integral part of the Hyderabad’s growth story and we are committed to magnifying the scale of the event to greater heights. As has been the case in the past, BioAsia 2018 will witness some of the marquee global leaders of the industry visiting Hyderabad and will certainly augment the growth of not only the country’s Life sciences and Healthcare industry but will also strengthen the leadership of Telangana in this field.”

“BioAsia over the years has emerged as one of the preeminent meetings in Asia for the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectors. BioAsia 2018 will attract about 1500 participants globally and the response to the event has been overwhelming. The event is strongly supported by various government organizations including the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department of Biotechnology, BIRAC among others and Deloitte will be the knowledge partners for the event. We are looking forward to BioAsia 2018 to leverage our industry friendly policies and the advanced infrastructure to attract more global companies”, added Mr. Jayesh Ranjan (IAS), Secretary to Govt of Telangana, I&C Department & ITE&C Department.

The exhibition at the event venue with about 100 exhibitors and startups will showcase some of the most innovative products, services and solutions in Life Sciences, Medtech and healthcare.

BioAsia 2017 witnessed participation of around 1,500 registered delegates from 51 countries. It also conducted around 1,200 trade, partnership & deliberation meetings at the event and witnessed investments of close to INR 3,400 Crores during the event.

Megatrends & Opportunities in times of change: RIGHT TIME, RIGHT NOW

The Life Sciences sector in India is facing unprecedented change, driven by a convergence of demographic growth, urbanization, digitization, and a continued push on financial inclusion. At the same time, the evolving regulatory regime in price control, generic drugs, and the implementation of GST has brought healthcare stakeholders back to the drawing board.

The past year has been challenging for Indian generic companies from an export perspective as well.  Price erosion, coupled with regulatory activism and protectionism has significantly impacted export revenues and margins.

What strategies should companies deploy to take on this rapid pace of change? How will healthcare stakeholders work together in ever more innovative ways to develop new models for distribution and healthcare delivery? Why is this the right time and what opportunities exist right now for the Life Sciences value chain? Be a part of the discussion at the 15th edition of BioAsia.

Several megatrends are impacting the Indian market:

• Demographic Dividend:
• India will have 238M young people (15-24 yrs) and 68% productive population by 2025 
• Growing Middle Class:
• The Indian middle-class size will go up to 547M in 2025 from 267M in 2015 
• Urbanization:
• The urbanization rate will go up to 40% (583M) in 2030 from 31% (372M) in 2010 
• Technology Adoption:
• The total internet users in India to reach ~346M by 2018 (from 252M currently) 
• Financial Inclusion:
• The population with financial access increased from ~300M to ~475M over 2011-15

 Within the life sciences and healthcare sector specifically, some of the key drivers of change are:

• There is a rise in the incidence and prevalence of non-communicable diseases
• The burden of NCDs is increasing due to aging population, sedentary lifestyle, diet changes, and rising obesity levels
• The shifting disease burden coupled with improved diagnostics, growing awareness and rise in precautionary treatments will drive demand for chronic care hospitalization in India
• The rising demand for chronic care will propel at-home care services such as post-surgery care, oncology treatment and physiotherapy

• The rise in middle class and greater health insurance coverage is likely to fuel healthcare expenditure growth
• Private healthcare services will continue to grow and reach beyond Tier 1 cities

• There is an accelerating trend of innovation and use of technology in healthcare delivery
• Growing technologies such as health apps and telemedicine, will improve access and quality of healthcare delivery services
• mHealth, which is one of the fastest growing sectors within digital healthcare in India, has helped improve disease awareness, ease access to healthcare services and reduce out-of-pocket healthcare costs
• The E-health initiative, which is a part of ‘Digital India’, facilitates maintenance of health records and appointment bookings using eKYC data of Aadhaar number

 The evolving regulatory framework requires all healthcare stakeholders to work together to adapt to the changing environment

• Focus on generics:
• The Union Health Ministry is working on a regulatory framework on the use of generic drug names in labelling and prescriptions.
• The Medical Council of India (MCI) has mandated doctors to prescribe using the generic name to ensure a rational prescription and use of drugs 
• Price regulation
• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority capped prices of cardiac stents and knee implants in 2017 
• GST rollout
• With the implementation of GST, healthcare companies are focused on how to best reconfigure their supply chain and business processes to maximize efficiencies under the new regime.