HYDERABAD: Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday urged the Indian pharmaceutical industry to look into the need for developing low-cost drugs to treat rare diseases, as a huge number of people in India suffer from them. He was speaking at the second decennial celebrations of Sarojini Naidu Vanita Pharmacy Maha Vidyalaya in Hyderabad.
“In India, the number of people suffering from rare diseases is estimated to be more than 70 million. While it is said that there are around 7,000 rare diseases in the world, a majority of these diseases have no treatment and when available, the costs are unprecedentedly high. It is therefore important that the pharma industry look into this,” he said.
Stating that high-quality medicines at affordable prices are the “need of the hour”, Naidu stressed that there is an alarming rise in the number of non-communicable and lifestyle diseases, which is why a thrust should be given to research and innovation in the field of medicine. He encouraged youngsters to work towards standardizing and bench-marking the Indian systems of medicine, adding that the industry has a huge scope of job opportunities.