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In his keynote address on May 11, 2012 at the US-India BioPharma & Healthcare Summit 2012 , Elias Zerhouni, President, Global Research & Development, and member of the Executive Committee and the Global Leadership Team, Sanofi speaks on the importance of growing US-India scientific relationships and calls for a symbiosis “on a grander scale”.
He recalls how high technology imaging modalities were adapted and adopted in India to provide high quality care at low cost which convinces him that there is the capacity to create and innovate in India.
He also says that India’s role is to innovate but not just on cost. Identifying the challenges in the pharma industry, especially the high failure rate in R&D projects, Zerhouni goes on to outline certain areas where India could position itself as a “valuable partner.” For instance, he points out that while India has an enormous talent pool in certain areas like IT, he is not so sure there may be enough of talent on the biology or medicine side. This is where companies like Sanofi have the expertise and can step in.
Finally in conclusion, Zerhouni speaks on the importance of meetings like the USAIC Summit to build more permanent relationships and partnerships. He also touches on how he is trying to change the way Sanofi looks at innovation, by creating what he calls an ‘intelligent interface’ and Sanofi’s new ‘open innovation’ model as opposed to the closed innovation model of previous years. (Acknowledgement: USA-India Chamber of Commerce, www.usaindiachamber.org)