Drug development timelines compressed to 3 years, R&D costs cut by 5%

Hyderabad: Drug development timelines have been compressed to three years, and the research and development costs have been cut by 5 percent, according to a KPMG report.

The KPMG released a comprehensive report on Indian Global Capability Centres at BioAsia 2026.

Titled `Making it matter: How GCCs transform capability into end-patient impact’, the report revealed that the Global Capability Centres in India have transitioned from back office support units to innovative engines.

This report, developed by KPMG in India in collaboration with UnearthIQ, shows that the pharma sector is rapidly maturing through the aggressive adoption of AI, automation, and advanced analytics.

Breaking the 10-Year Barrier

Historically, bringing a new drug to market was a marathon lasting 10–15 years. According to the findings, the integration of Indian GCCs into the core value chain has compressed this cycle to 9–13 years.

The Efficiency Breakdown

The impact is felt most acutely in the high-stakes early and middle stages of development:

Pre-clinical Development: By leveraging AI for target identification and protein modeling, GCCs have cut early-stage timelines by 5–6 years.

Clinical Trials: AI-driven patient recruitment and real-time analytics have shortened trial cycles by 4–6 years, while simultaneously increasing success rates.

Cost Reduction: Total R&D-to-launch costs have dropped from a range of 20–30% to 15–25%, allowing pharmaceutical giants to reinvest capital into high-impact innovation.

A Structural Shift

India now hosts over 150 Healthcare and Life Sciences GCCs, employing more than 300,000 professionals. While the landscape is still dominated by traditional pharma (35%), there is a burgeoning presence in medical devices (25%) and health-tech (20%). “The next phase of evolution will be driven by business context and core domain knowledge,” said Shalini Pillay, Partner and India Leader, GCCs, KPMG in India. “Leveraging GenAI to impact core sectoral challenges is what will truly unlock the ROI.”

This evolution is particularly visible in MedTech. Indian GCCs are shifting from engineering support to product development hubs, cutting medical device development cycles from 8 years down to 3–5 years.

The Patient Impact

The report emphasizes that “Patient Impact” is the new metric for success. By assuming end-to-end responsibility for global mandates, Indian GCCs are directly influencing:

Affordability: Lower development costs translate to more competitive pricing for life-saving medicines.

Access: Faster time-to-market means earlier breakthroughs in critical areas like oncology, rare diseases, and chronic conditions.

Safety: Real-time analytics and automated regulatory submissions ensure higher compliance and safer clinical trials.

The GCC Landscape at a Glance:

1) The market share is 30 to 35 percent in the pharmaceutical sector for research and development, clinical data, and regulatory compliance.

2) The market share is 20 to 25 percent in the Life Sciences sector for protein modeling, genomic,s and biologics.

3) The market share is 20 to 25 percent for medical devices for digital engineering, design, and software-led developments.

4) The market share is 20 percent for Artificial Intelligence platforms and digital health solutions.

Ecosystem Collaboration

The transformation isn’t happening in a vacuum. Kartik Ramakrishnan, Partner at KPMG in India, highlighted the “collaborative and inclusive nature” of the ecosystem, which includes startups, academia, and supportive state initiatives in hubs like Hyderabad.

As Gaurav Vasu and Shail Maniar, Co-founders of UnearthIQ, noted, established and new GCCs are adopting a “core-first” approach. This strategy ensures that India remains the strategic nucleus for global healthcare transformation well into the 2030s.