The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has approved financial assistance of around ₹1,600 crore for 41 pharmaceutical and medical technology projects under the first round of the Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech Sector (PRIP) scheme, marking a significant push towards strengthening India’s innovation-led healthcare ecosystem.

The approved projects are expected to mobilise an additional ₹3,020 crore in private investment, taking the combined investment associated with the projects to approximately ₹4,620 crore. The initiative is aimed at accelerating domestic research and development and encouraging the development of new drugs, advanced medical technologies, complex generics and biosimilars.

Of the 41 projects approved under the first round, 27 are focused on new medicines, nine on novel medical devices, and five on complex generics and biosimilars. The project portfolio spans multiple areas of strategic importance for India’s healthcare and life sciences sector, including novel drug discovery, clinical development, rare diseases, antimicrobial resistance, vaccines and advanced medical technologies.

The funding also reflects an effort to broaden participation in pharmaceutical innovation. Nineteen projects involve startups and MSMEs, while 22 are being undertaken by larger companies. Twelve projects are in the early stage of development, while 29 are at a more advanced stage.

Among the innovations receiving support are technologies targeting multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections, exosome-based therapies for corneal disorders, in-vivo CAR-T approaches and patient-derived breast cancer organoids. The portfolio also includes programmable RNA-targeting antiviral technology, portable plasmonic-PCR technology for point-of-care infection diagnosis and microfluidic solutions for tuberculosis detection.

The scheme has also identified strategic priority areas for targeted support. Six projects have been selected under this framework, covering areas such as bacterial pneumonia and meningitis, dengue, influenza and next-generation tuberculosis vaccines.

Several established pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, along with emerging innovators, are participating in the supported projects. The beneficiaries include companies such as Wockhardt, Biocon, Bharat Biotech, Sun Pharma, Zydus, Mankind Pharma, Pandorum Technologies, Cellogen Therapeutics, Aurigene Oncology and Bugworks Research.

The PRIP scheme is designed to support projects across different stages of technological development. Eligible early-stage projects led by startups and MSMEs can receive financial assistance of up to ₹5 crore, while later-stage projects can receive substantially higher support, subject to the applicable scheme provisions and project requirements.

The funding model also incorporates a benefit-sharing mechanism, linking government support to the commercial success of technologies emerging from the programme. This is intended to create a mechanism through which public investment can be partially recovered as supported innovations move towards commercialisation.

The latest approvals underline the government’s broader objective of transforming India’s pharmaceutical sector from a largely manufacturing- and volume-oriented ecosystem into one with stronger capabilities in research, innovation and high-value healthcare technologies.

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With public funding being leveraged to attract more than ₹3,000 crore in private investment, the first round of PRIP approvals could provide further momentum to India’s domestic drug discovery, medical technology and biotechnology ecosystem while strengthening the country’s ambitions to become a global hub for healthcare innovation.

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