Opening Up The Indian Rare Disease Market: An Interview With ORD India

We here at Total Orphan Drugs, as part of this month’s focus on emerging markets for the orphan drug industry, have been speaking to Harsha K Rajasimha of the newly formed Organization for Rare Diseases India (ORDI). With a rare disease population estimated to be around 72,611,605 (more than the US and EU rare disease populations combined) the need for orphan treatments is huge, and with little in place so far, India represents a lucrative market to developers and pharma looking to expand their orphan operations.

Rajasimha, one of the seven founders of the organisation, sat down with us to tell us a bit more about the current state of the orphan drug industry in India and the opportunities it holds:

So, Dr Rajasimha, how many rare disease treatments are currently available in India?

In theory, close to 400 US FDA approved orphan drugs and about 80 EMA approved orphan drugs are available in India and world-wide. However, in practice, most of them are either not accessible to most patients in India or are unaffordable. It is ORDI’s mission and hope to make these and new approved orphan drugs easily accessible and affordable to patients with rare diseases in India...