In response to a government note seeking the IPA's vision statement on key issues, the industry body says that currently only 30 per cent of the population has access to modern medicines and IPA hopes to enhance this to 90 per cent of the population by 2010.

IPA secretary general DG Shah said that the industry body also expects the government to encourage research and development, by moving away from price control to price management and facilitating a phased decontrol of drug prices in three years. The IPA has also mooted the setting up of an independent regulatory pharmaceutical body, styled along the lines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA). "We are seeking the formation of an independent body manned by eminent personalities, largely on the lines of the TRAI," Shah said. The drug policy of 1995 had suggested the creation of a national drug authority, by a separate act of parliament.

In the area of international trade, IPA says that India can become a leading supplier of world class generics and even capture 25 per cent to 30 per cent (valued at $10 billion) of the global generics market by 2010.

In the area of R&D, IPA expects to earn upto $ 100 million per year from royalty/licensing fees by 2010 (Ranbaxy Labs and Dr Reddy's Labs are already getting milestone payments for their R&D efforts), while cumulative R&D-based revenue inflows are expected to touch $1000 million per annum by that period. Indian companies, on the other hand, are expected to invest Rs 15,000 crore by 2010 in R&D. Indian companies will also leverage their IT strengths for bioinformatics, besides focusing on areas like biotechnology and genomicsu.