Novartis Establishes India as Largest R&D Hub Outside Switzerland with 9,000-Strong Workforce
核心洞察
Novartis has designated its India operations as the company's largest global corporate center outside Basel, employing over 9,000 people and representing 11% of the company's worldwide workforce.
The Hyderabad-based hub contributes to nearly every late-stage drug development program at Novartis, spanning chemistry, analytics, biostatistics, clinical operations, and AI-enabled analyses across priority therapeutic areas.
India teams have delivered measurable contributions to key programs including inclisiran, lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan (搜索), and remibrutinib, while expanding capabilities in radioligand therapy, gene therapy, and digital trial technologies.
Novartis has transformed its India operations into the Swiss pharmaceutical giant's largest global corporate center outside of Basel, with over 9,000 employees now representing approximately 11% of the company's worldwide workforce. The Hyderabad Corporate Center has evolved into a comprehensive innovation engine that spans biomedical research, drug development, and digital technology platforms.
Strategic Expansion Across Therapeutic Areas
The India development hubs are experiencing significant expansion as Novartis amplifies its global focus on cardio-renal-metabolic diseases (搜索), oncology (搜索), immunology (搜索), and neuroscience (搜索). According to Dr. Sadhna Joglekar, Senior Vice President and Head of the Development India Hub, "Nearly every molecule that reaches late-stage development in Novartis sees great contribution from teams in India."
The work encompasses the full spectrum of drug development activities, including chemistry, analytics, biostatistics, clinical operations, documentation, and AI-enabled analyses. India teams currently support multiple Phase II and Phase III programs across Novartis's priority therapeutic areas.
Key Program Contributions
India teams have delivered measurable contributions to several high-profile programs, including inclisiran (a lipid-lowering siRNA therapy), lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan (搜索) (a radioligand therapy for prostate cancer (搜索)), and remibrutinib (a treatment for spontaneous chronic urticaria (搜索)). These contributions span analytical method development, process optimization, clinical operations, and data management.
The Genome Valley and Hi-Tech City hubs have deepened their work on radioligand therapy precursors, oligonucleotides, small molecules, and analytical packages that support global life-cycle management. As Dr. Joglekar noted, "The complexity of the work will grow" as platforms like radioligand therapy (RLT) and xRNA mature.
Advanced Technology Integration
Novartis is building new capabilities in India across digital and hybrid trials, biomarker and quantitative sciences, model-informed development, and complex chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) work. The company is strengthening tools such as Protocol.AI and the Clinical Intelligence Platform through data engineering and modeling teams based in India.
The hub's workforce includes approximately 2,800 physicians, scientists, and experts in the Development India Hub, with additional teams spread across Hyderabad, Genome Valley, and Mumbai. Safety science and real-world evidence functions are set to expand as India becomes a larger pharmacovigilance center.
Next-Generation Obesity Research
Obesity (搜索) has emerged as a key area of assessment for Novartis, with the company evaluating next-generation approaches while avoiding entry with "another 'me-too' GLP-1 (搜索) or GIP (搜索) agent." Early research is underway on longer-acting biologics and siRNA-based mechanisms, with India already contributing to the broader cardio-metabolic strategy and positioned to play a central role should an obesity program advance to late-stage development.
Competitive Advantages
Dr. Joglekar emphasized that India offers advantages "not just in scale and depth of talent, but in the integration of science, data and operations within a single ecosystem." The hub's unique positioning allows it to support the full pipeline rather than focusing on a single therapy area, with "speed to evidence, quality at scale and platform expertise" serving as the three key areas where India accelerates global decisions.
The two-decade growth trajectory of the Hyderabad-based center demonstrates Novartis's long-term commitment to India as a critical component of its global R&D strategy, with Indian teams now having their fingerprints on nearly every late-stage drug project at the company.