India's Life Sciences GCCs Transform into AI Innovation Hubs, Accelerating Drug Development
Global capability centres (GCCs) in India's life sciences and medical technology sectors are undergoing a significant transformation, shifting from their traditional role as cost-focused delivery units to becoming AI-powered innovation hubs. Companies are now deploying artificial intelligence across research, clinical, commercial, and manufacturing workflows to accelerate development timelines and enhance patient impact.
From Cost Centers to Innovation Leaders
At the recent BioAsia 2026 conference, leaders from major pharmaceutical companies described how GCCs are increasingly being tasked with end-to-end ownership of digital and research and development programmes. This strategic shift represents a fundamental change in how these centres contribute to global healthcare innovation.
Industry Leaders Detail AI Implementation
Anton Groom, chief AI officer at MSD, revealed that artificial intelligence is being utilized across the company to accelerate molecule discovery, compress clinical documentation timelines, and unlock value from decades of accumulated research data. This comprehensive approach demonstrates how AI is becoming integral to pharmaceutical research processes.
Som Chattopadhyay, senior vice president of global business solutions and national executive at Amgen, emphasized that AI is acting as a talent multiplier, helping teams work more effectively with unstructured data and significantly lifting productivity across operations.
Gail Horwood, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Novartis, highlighted how Hyderabad-based teams are building AI-driven content engines and real-time insights platforms to support patient and physician engagement in the United States market.
Syed Naveed, executive officer and chief technology officer at Olympus, pointed to a broader shift toward "true innovation," with AI-enabled clinical and product development emerging from Hyderabad's growing ecosystem.
Addressing Global Healthcare Challenges
In a separate discussion focusing on GCCs and end-patient impact, industry leaders explained that these centres are being strategically positioned to address multiple global healthcare challenges, including:
- Ageing populations worldwide
- Shrinking clinical workforces
- Increasing pricing pressure on pharmaceuticals
- Tighter regulatory requirements
- Supply-chain volatility
Industry experts noted that GCC-led programmes are improving trial readiness, accelerating innovation cycles, and enabling connected care models that benefit patients globally.
Measurable Impact on Drug Development
A comprehensive report titled "Making it matter: How GCCs transform capability into end patient impact," developed by KPMG in India and UnearthIQ, provides concrete evidence of the transformation occurring in India's pharmaceutical and life sciences GCCs. The report documents measurable gains across the entire drug development value chain.
The research reveals that end-to-end adoption of AI, automation, and advanced analytics is compressing drug development timelines from the traditional 10 to 15 years down to 9 to 13 years. Simultaneously, research and development-to-launch costs have declined from 20–30% to 15–25%, representing significant efficiency improvements.
Specific Timeline Reductions
The report provides detailed insights into how GCCs are achieving these accelerated timelines:
- Early-stage development: GCCs are cutting early-stage timelines by five to six years through faster target identification, protein modelling, and compound screening processes enabled by advanced technologies.
- Clinical development: Clinical development cycles are being shortened by four to six years via AI-driven patient recruitment, innovative trial design, and real-time analytics that optimize research processes.
This transformation of India's life sciences GCCs from cost-saving operations to innovation powerhouses represents a significant evolution in the global pharmaceutical landscape, with Hyderabad emerging as a particularly important hub for AI-driven healthcare innovation.
