Pharma industry is optimistic about the easing of pressure on pricing and margins in the US market going forward.

According to Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group, though there was pressure on the margins, especially with uncertainty as far as the costs were concerned, some of the pricing pressure could be recovered in terms of value growth.

“Also, the world wants to diversify its supply chain,’’ he said in a panel discussion on ‘Moving up the value chain for the next wave of growth and leading into a resilient future’ at BioAsia here on Friday.

GV Prasad of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, said there was certainly a rise in input costs which, in the short run, cannot be transferred to the patients.

“But I do see an adjustment going down unless something like the war in Ukraine disrupts supply chains again,’’ he said.

According to Pankaj Patel, Chairman and Managing Director, Zydus Cadila, the pandemic stunted the industry growth because there were less number of people visiting hospitals.

“Now that the world is looking for non-China based products, Indian companies have a good opportunity to have their presence felt in the world market,’’ he said.

The panellists also stressed on the need for competitiveness. “There is a need for us to be competitive, qualitative and strong in supply. While people will be interested in creating a China plus one strategy, they would also look at cost and quality as an important issue,’’ Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director, Sun Pharma, said.

There is a need for us to modify few of India’s regulatory processes so that its response time can be improved significantly, he said adding: “If we want to become a global player at scale, we will need be better than the current best.’‘