In this economy, vibrant may not be the first word you think of when assessing the life sciences. The recession affected the industry worldwide, drying up venture capital funding and making lucrative IPOs a thing of the past. But things are starting to look up, and according to Prithviraj Chavan, Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences of India, vibrant is exactly the word to describe today’s Indian life sciences sector.

Chavan was in Washington, DC, on Wednesday to discuss the progress of science and technology under India’s Eleventh five year plan, which refers to the successive five-year economic development plans India has undertaken since 1951. The talk was held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

I was thrilled to hear Chavan emphasize (twice!) during his talk that India is well-suited to do research and drug development for the diseases afflicting people in poor countries. In regards to clinical research, Chavan said that India can “particularly do research for neglected diseases, which is not as popular with multinational companies.”

We at BIO Ventures for Global Health couldn’t agree more that India can play a huge role in boosting research and development (R&D) for neglected diseases. This is true not only of India, but of many emerging market economies, including Brazil, China, and South Africa, where the pharmaceutical sectors are growing rapidly. At our Partnering for Global Health Forum in Chicago in May, David Campbell, Senior Principle at IMS Health, explained that "by 2013, almost 50 percent of the growth of the pharmaceutical industry will come from emerging markets.”

Neglected diseases are also a public health concern for the Indian government, so it makes sense for the government to invest in R&D in this area to meet their own health needs.

But doing research in India provides benefits to companies as well.

“Doing innovation in India is highly affordable,” said Chavan. The cost-savings alone make India an attractive place to do business for both domestic and international companies.

Here’s hoping some companies take him up on it.

Thayer Hardwick is a Research Analyst at BIO Ventures for Global Health.