The Indian and Chinese health biotechnology industries: potential champions of global health?

India and China have made major progress toward establishing research- and innovation-based health biotechnology sectors. Local health needs, including diseases that predominantly affect the poor, have driven much of this success. We argue that emerging domestic firms can play an important role as reliable and high-quality suppliers of existing products and as innovators for global health needs. Indeed, these firms' participation may make existing global health approaches more sustainable. However, global health stakeholders, including international donors and the Indian and Chinese governments, will need to fashion incentives for these companies to retain a strategic focus on the global poor.