Scale-Up Health 2025 brings together Industry leaders to shape India's healthcare decade

India’s healthcare industry is entering a decisive decade that could see the country evolve from being the “pharmacy of the world” into a global leader in innovation, expansion, and influence. Signaling these emerging trends, Eight Roads Ventures, hosted the fourth edition of its annual healthcare conference, Scale-Up Health, in Mumbai.

The conference brought together India’s most influential healthcare and life sciences founders and leaders alongside global experts to map the country’s next healthcare decade. Centered around the theme “India’s Healthcare Decade – Innovation, Expansion & Global Influence”, the discussions spotlighted the breakthroughs reshaping India’s healthcare landscape from rapid market expansion to biotech innovation and AI-enabled care.

Rehan Khan, Managing Director at MSD India; Amit Mookim, CEO of Immunel Therapeutics; and Priya Deshmukh, Head of Health Products, Operations & Services at ICICI Lombard spoke on “The Road to India’s First Billion-Dollar Drug.” Viren Shetty, Executive Vice Chairman at Narayana Health, and Varun Dua, Founder & CEO of Acko, discussed “From Volume to Value-Based Healthcare: Will India Set the Global Standard?” Arjun Surya, Ph.D., CEO of Curadev; Dr. Sadhna Joglekar, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Drug Development India at Novartis; and Robert Weisskoff, Ph.D., Senior Partner at F-Prime, explored “Breakthrough Bharat: Is India Ready for the Biotech Frontline?” Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-founder & Group Chief Executive of Fractal Analytics; Dr. Harlan Krumholz, Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) & Founder and Director, Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Yale University/Yale New Haven Health; and Venky Ananth, Executive Vice President & Global Head of Healthcare at Infosys, shared insights during the session “GPT, meet GPs: Will LLMs and Agents Be India’s Front Door to Care?” Together, the panelists offered key observations during the discussions, including:

·       To unlock the million-dollar drug opportunity in India, we must expand patient capacity that’s the path to higher revenue: Rehan Khan, Managing Director, MSD India

·       Insurance and pharma companies need to leverage real-world data engines to set smarter, evidence-backed pricing: Amit Mookim, CEO, Immuneel Therapeutics

·       We must reimagine OPD. In India, OPD equals hospital. We need a non-hospital experience for non-sick people that’s how preventive healthcare will grow: Varun Dua, Founder & CEO, Acko

• India’s biggest strength is its population. With the sheer volume of patient data available, AI models can be trained locally, creating healthcare solutions that are both accurate and tailored to India’s needs: Venky Ananth, EVP & Global Head of Healthcare, Infosys
• Healthcare can’t be sold as one-off expensive interactions. It has to be built like a subscription: predictable, continuous, and aligned with outcomes. That’s the only way to control costs and build a sustainable system: Viren Shetty, Executive Vice Chairman at Narayana Health
• Globally, universities seed innovation. In India, a scientist is rewarded for publishing papers, not for building therapies. Until academia is incentivized for translational research, we won’t see spin-offs and startups at scale: Dr. Sadhna Joglekar, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Drug Development India at Novartis
• We can’t afford to spend a decade debating AI. The burden of disease is rising now. The technology is here now. The responsibility is to use it wisely and fast, Dr. Harlan Krumholz, Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) & Founder and Director, Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Yale University/Yale New Haven Health

·       During the audience poll in the event, 78% voted that India’s healthcare future lies in dual-track value for rich and volume for others.

Conceptualized and championed by Eight Roads Ventures, Scale-Up Health is India’s first platform for healthcare and life sciences entrepreneurs and leaders, aimed at building stronger networks, driving collaboration, and spotlighting transformative innovations. This year’s theme, “India’s Healthcare Decade: Innovation, Expansion & Global Influence,” highlighted the sector’s role in shaping global healthcare outcomes.