India: Who should we be watching in the drug discovery space?
Diana Turner takes a look at drug discovery in India, a country making the shift from scale to innovation.
While the Indian pharmaceuticals sector has long held a key global position as a centre for generics development and manufacturing, the country is beginning to make a significant name for itself as a hub for contract research, but also across new drug discovery, antibiotics development, artificial intelligence (AI) and genomics.
According to analysts Grand View Research, India is the fastest growing regional pharmaceuticals market in Asia Pacific and is projected to reach $63,747.4 million by 2030 (1). India’s pharmaceutical exports have seen consistent growth, and over the past decade, have surged from $15.07 billion in 2013-14 to $27.85 billion in 2023-24.
Background
Government backing has played an important role in the development of India’s drug discovery industry. The government committed Rs 197,000 crore ($26,578.3 million) to its pharmaceutical Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. In response, foreign direct investment in the sector reached $1,414 million between in 2021 and 2022.
This government investment can also be seen on a regional level. At Davos in January 2026, the Indian State of Telangana, home to Genome Valley hub in Hyderabad, unveiled a global-focused life sciences policy, which targets $25 billion in investments and aims to position the state among the world’s top five life sciences clusters by 2030.
Realising the importance of a supportive regulatory environment, the Indian government introduced ‘deemed approval’ regulations for clinical trials, mandating that applications be processed within 90 working days. This move, along with a clearer patent regime, aims to make India a more attractive destination for global clinical research. As a result, the country is seeing increased investment, with major players like Syngene International committing new capital to peptide laboratories and advanced automation.
The GenomeIndia Project, a scientific project funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, exemplifies India’s strengths in genomics. The project is a collaboration of 20 academic and research institutions. Since it started, the GenomeIndia project has collected 20,000 samples from 83 diverse populations and whole genome sequencing has been completed for 10,000 samples, with the intention to create a comprehensive catalogue of India’s genetic diversity.
Leading the fight against AMR
Indian life sciences is actively targeting the global health crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In particular, Wockhardt’s discovery research has focussed on finding effective antibacterial solutions to the growing therapeutic challenge of AMR. Through this conscious effort, the company currently boasts a pipeline of six novel antibiotics, with two already launched and four at various stages of clinical development.
In 2020, Wockhardt launched two novel broad spectrum anti-MRSA antibiotics, levonadifloxacin and alalevonadifloxacin in India under the brand name EMROK (WCK 771, levonadifloxacin) and EMROK O (WCK 2349, alalevonadifloxacin), respectively. Its discovery pipeline includes three Phase III stage antibiotics Zaynich WCK 5222 (zidebactam/cefepime), WCK 4282 (2+2g cefepime/tazobactam) and WCK 4873 (Miqnaf or nafithromycin), and one Phase I, WCK 6777 (ertapenem/zidebactam).
Nafithromycin represented India’s first indigenously discovered antibiotic. It is reportedly highly effective against drug-resistant bacteria and is currently awaiting final approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). Zaynich for severe drug-resistant infections is expected to launch next year.
Orchid Pharma, now owned by Dhanuka Laboratories, is another Indian company seeking to tackle AMR. Its drug enmetazobactam was the first antimicrobial invented in India to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved antibiotic combination Exblifep (cefepime/enmetazobactam), developed by Allecra Therapeutics for treating adults with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs), in 2024. The drug targets enzymes, like beta-lactamase, which are the defence mechanisms produced by bacteria to destroy antibiotics and so also preserves the effectiveness of other antibiotics. Orchid also has a new drug discovery (NDD) pipeline that encompasses high-growth therapeutic segments like diabetes and oncology.
In another example, Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services (APSL), a subsidiary of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, is a global, integrated contract research, development, and manufacturing organisation (CRDMO), which is collaborating with non-profit the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) to produce zoliflodacin, a novel oral antibiotic for gonorrhoea.
Innovation in oncology
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories was one of the first Indian companies to enter drug discovery alongside its generics business, though most of its pipeline is in the early stages of development. The company focuses on partnerships, including voluntary licensing agreements for treatments such as Lenacapavir for HIV. In January 2026, it launched Hevaxin, the only vaccine approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for the prevention of Hepatitis E virus infection.
Another arm of Dr Reddy’s, Aurigene Oncology is focused on developing potentially best-in-class therapies for cancer and inflammatory diseases. In late 2024, the company announced positive Phase I results for Ribrecabtagene autoleucel (DRL-1801) from the SWASTH study, India’s first trial for a novel autologous BCMA directed CAR-T cell therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Following DCGI approval, the company is now pursuing a Phase II trial.
Then, in December 2025, Aurigene shared encouraging initial data from the first two cohorts of Phase I Study of AUR112, its oral small molecule inhibitor of MALT1, in relapsed/refractory lymphoid malignancies. The early findings showed that AUR112 was well tolerated and demonstrated meaningful clinical activity, with objective responses observed across multiple lymphoma subtypes, including mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL).
Another large Indian pharma company, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has R&D capabilities in oncology, respiratory, and dermatology. In 2019, the company spun out its innovative biologics research division into a wholly-owned subsidiary, Ichnos Sciences, with a heightened focus on accelerating novel biologics entities (NBE) research. Then, in 2024, Glenmark and Ichnos formed Ichnos Glenmark Innovation (IGI) to focus on the treatment of haematological cancers and solid tumours using bispecific and multispecific antibodies and small molecules.
IGI Therapeutics, part of IGI, reached an agreement with AbbVie in July 2025 to develop IGI’s lead investigational asset, ISB 2001, for oncology and autoimmune diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie got exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialise ISB 2001 across North America, Europe, Japan, and Greater China, for which IGI received $700 million and is eligible to receive up to $1.225 billion in milestone payments.
ISB 2001 is a first-in-class trispecific T-cell engager that targets BCMA and CD38 on myeloma cells and CD3 on T cells currently in Phase I for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. It was developed using IGI’s BEAT protein platform with two distinct binders against myeloma-associated antigens to enhance avidity, even at low target expression levels. It was granted FDA Orphan Drug Designation in July 2023 and Fast Track Designation for the treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma patients in May 2025.
India’s first AI-discovered drug
There is a strong push in India for the use of AI and generative AI in drug discovery. The country’s Ministry of Science and Technology developed PathGennie, an indigenous open-source software for computational biology that predicts drug unbinding pathways without artificial distortions, aiding early-stage research.
At the CII Pharma and Lifesciences Summit 2025 in New Delhi Union Minister Jitendra Singh said: “AI is no longer a choice but an essential tool in diagnostics, drug discovery, and healthcare delivery. The real challenge is how effectively we integrate AI in a hybrid model that balances technology with human empathy. India’s life sciences sector enters 2025 at a defining moment… trusted for quality, scale and affordability. How do we move from this scale to innovation?”
While many pharmaceutical companies are adopting AI in India, some are taking the lead with the technology. Peptris Technologies is credited with the development of India’s first AI-discovered drug, RT001 (PEPR124), a repurposed drug which has demonstrated preclinical efficacy in Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). In October 2025, Peptris licensed the drug to Revio Therapeutics, which will progress its development into Phase II trials. In January 2026, RT001 was granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) from the FDA.
Peptris, based out of CCAMP in Bangalore, was funded by Speciale Investments and is currently in the process of raising another round of funding to accelerate its drug discovery efforts, including a pipeline of preclinical assets in development in rare diseases, alopecia, inflammation and oncology including novel and repurposed drugs.
MoleculeAI is another Indian company using AI-driven computational tools to automate the creation of new chemical entities tailored to specific molecular characteristics. It uses de novo drug design, a computational approach that generates novel molecular structures from atomic building blocks without relying on previously known compounds as starting points. The company received the Emerging AI-Powered Drug Discovery Platform award at the BioSpectrum Asia Excellence Awards in 2024.
In the Spring 2025 issue of DDW, MoleculeAI Founder Saurabh Singal wrote: “Quantum computing is not just a technological evolution; it’s a revolution. While significant challenges remain, the progress made by industry leaders and research institutions underscores QC’s vast potential. By addressing inefficiencies in drug development and clinical trials, QC promises to save time, reduce costs, and improve patient outcomes.
“The pharmaceutical industry stands at the cusp of a quantum leap. The question is no longer whether quantum computing will transform drug development, but how quickly it will become an integral part of the process. For companies willing to invest in the groundwork today, the rewards could redefine the future of medicine.”
Bengaluru-based startup Sravathi AI also aspires to use AI-powered innovation across discovery, development, and delivery. The company has launched two proprietary platforms, built a pipeline of nine assets across various oncology indications, and established a strong client base across industry and academia. Sravathi hopes to build on this through collaborations, like its partnership with the Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute (CSIR-CDRI) to fast-track the discovery of novel cancer therapeutics.
References
From DDW Volume 27 – Issue 2, Spring 2026 – Read the digital issue here