“If I think of my well-functioning development machine as let’s say a V12 engine with 12 cylinders, cylinders four, five, six and seven and at different times eight are in Hyderabad.”
Novartis Development Head On The India Hub, AI And Not Doing ‘Me Too’ Stuff In Obesity
Novartis president, development and chief medical officer talks about the pivotal role of the development India hub in progressing breakthrough drugs, how AI is delivering gains in the trials arena, driving focus in the R&D engine and the Swiss group’s approach in the obesity space.

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Senior executives from AstraZeneca, BMS, Novo Nordisk, Takeda and Regeneron outline how big pharma's global capability centers (GCCs) in India are evolving beyond cost efficiency, focusing on innovation, “agile experimentation” and new technology including GenAI, virtual & augmented reality, with some positioned as COEs. Will Indian multinationals use the GCC approach?
Heads of Novartis Biomedical, World Economic Forum and Indian majors like Sun Pharma’s SPARC, among others, discuss generative AI in drug discovery along with pointers for India to leapfrog the R&D process
Lilly’s Mounjaro arrives in India, with the 2.5mg vial priced at under $41 in a market that has over 100 million diabetics and increasing obesity rates. Will the product see sharp demand like in China, carving out a chunk of the pie ahead of the potential arrival of semaglutide generics and could there be concerns of ‘suitcase' exports?
Professor Anil Koul shares vignettes of his life and career trajectory, a captivating mix of hope, science and destiny that took him to the lab of eminent cancer biologist Alex Ullrich at the Max Planck Institute and also saw him contribute to the development of breakthrough TB drug bedaquiline. He also talks about Medicine 3.0 and the intersection of science and spirituality.
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