Read the Conversation
IQVIA is a global leader in clinical research, commercial insights, and healthcare intelligence for the life sciences and healthcare sectors. With around 88,000 employees across 100+ countries, IQVIA accelerates the development and delivery of innovative treatments to improve patient outcomes and global health.
EF: What are your current leadership priorities, and how do you see India contributing to IQVIA's global growth strategy?
JI: Healthcare globally is becoming more complicated, with macro environmental challenges, making the system harder to navigate. India has long been known as the "pharmacy of the world," mainly supplying generic medicines to the U.S. and Europe, but the industry is shifting. India needs to move beyond generics and focus more on developing innovative medicines—and that transition is already underway.
At IQVIA, we see ourselves helping both international and Indian pharma companies make this shift—from being suppliers of generics to becoming leaders in advanced treatments such as gene and cell therapies, biologics, and precision medicine. This change demands stronger R&D, larger clinical trial setups, and better data analytics—areas where IQVIA plays a key role.
India is becoming a growing hub for clinical trials, not just for support work, but for running full-scale studies from phase one through phase four. This trend will drive significant growth—not just for IQVIA, but for India's role in global healthcare innovation. On the commercial side, Indian companies need to prepare themselves to succeed in the innovative medicines. IQVIA supports them in determining the optimal organizational structure, providing insights into market access dynamics, launch planning adjustments, and other critical considerations.
EF: How is IQVIA advancing AI and real-world evidence adoption in India?
JI: IQVIA is leveraging Agentic AI and its autonomous decision-making capabilities. We are orchestrating the processing of multiple complex models and managing intricate workflows to accelerate drug research, enhance clinical trial efficiency, and ultimately lower the cost of bringing new medicines to the market. Speeding up development is crucial—you want to launch new medicines faster, find the right patients for clinical trials quickly, and achieve better results. Here, data and analytics play a huge role. IQVIA is already one of the largest healthcare data providers, and with our AI tools, we can move even faster to help our customers develop and launch new treatments.
There are other commercial applications of AI as well, such as optimizing interactions between medical representatives and healthcare professionals, planning launch sequences for maximum impact, and identifying additional indications for existing drugs.
EF: How is IQVIA partnering with India's public sector to improve and expand access to medicines?
JI: Over the past few years, both the government and private organizations have played a key role in improving healthcare access in India. As India's middle class is growing, healthcare spending is increasing. At the same time, the government has stepped up its investments, especially through insurance programs that now also cover senior citizens. IQVIA has supported the central government by helping ensure these healthcare initiatives reach the right people. We assisted in developing guidelines on how central and state governments can work together to implement programs effectively. We are collaborating directly with several state governments to strengthen healthcare infrastructure, particularly in rural and semi-rural areas where access remains limited. Often, while funding is available, weak infrastructure forces people to travel to cities for treatment. We're helping states create clear development plans—such as how many hospital beds are needed at the district or village level—and working with public and local authorities to bring those plans to life.
EF: How is IQVIA adapting its workforce and attracting talent in India to meet the challenges of next-generation, data-driven healthcare?
JI: We have over 23,000 employees in India supporting global operations across research and development, clinical trials, drug safety, data management, analytics, and technology. From supporting data and regulatory aspects during the development of a drug to bringing it to market, we cover the full spectrum. A major initiative is our early talent program, where we recruit talent from universities—not just engineers for tech and analytics, but also pharmacy graduates and doctors. We train them not only in technical skills but also in medical knowledge, encouraging them to bring fresh ideas.
Out of our 12 offices in India, one—based in Kochi—is dedicated to AI and data science. This center focuses on both innovation and hands-on training, giving employees opportunities to build careers in data science while contributing to global healthcare advancements.
Overall, we focus on three pillars: attracting talent, offering world-class training and creating a workplace where innovation and risk-taking are encouraged—always grounded in the mission of improving global health. That mindset is a big part of how we attract and retain top talent.
EF: What are the key steps to ensure a sustainable healthcare system in India by 2047?
JI: India's healthcare sector is at a turning point. With a stronger economy, rising incomes, and longer life expectancy, thanks to better nutrition and clear policy, the landscape is changing. At the same time, access to health information through the internet and social media has made people more health aware. But awareness alone isn't enough. What truly matters is ensuring people can access affordable treatment at the right time and place, especially for early diagnosis and advanced care.
As India works toward becoming a developed nation by 2047, affordable and accessible healthcare at the right time must be a national priority. This means building a system that connects all parts of the healthcare ecosystem—pharmaceutical companies, payers, and government, hospitals and clinics, diagnostic centers, and healthcare professionals.
We're seeing more small and mid-sized hospitals open in semi-urban and rural areas, and it's critical to link them to the larger healthcare network. Companies like ours have a role to play by developing solutions that bring all these players together. By using data effectively, we can lower costs and improve outcomes at the same time. Even as India grows wealthier, making healthcare affordable and accessible for all remains one of our biggest challenges—and responsibilities—for the future.
EF: What key milestone are you most proud of at IQVIA, and what is one goal you still aim to achieve
JI: In my previous roles at IQVIA, I focused heavily on data and analytics, and while there's still much to achieve, I'm proud of how far we've come—especially here in India. We've helped raise the profile of IQVIA India by creating global technology solutions locally, including advanced algorithms and data tools that map patient journeys and track treatment adherence. A lot of this innovation came from our AI and data science center in Kochi.
Over the past eight years, we've built a strong talent pool across the entire life science and healthcare spectrum, from clinical trials to commercialization. This was made possible through cross-functional collaboration and by nurturing an ecosystem that supports innovation.
India has been known as a global supplier of generics, but as the industry in India makes the transition to innovative medicines, IQVIA will help companies make this transition faster via our strong data, analytics, technology and consulting solutions.
EF: What future title would you give to India beyond "Pharmacy of the World"?
JI: India has played a critical role in making medicines more affordable and accessible globally, which justified the title "pharmacy of the world." It helped us grow and build a strong healthcare talent base. Going forward, I hope India will be seen not just as the pharmacy of the world, but as the innovator of the world—especially in healthcare. The future of medicine won't come from biology alone; it will also be driven by tech-enabled devices and solutions that help people live longer, healthier lives. That kind of innovation will be crucial not only for India but for many developing nations. That's the identity I hope we create in the coming years.
About IQVIA
IQVIA (NYSE: IQV) is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. IQVIA’s portfolio of solutions is powered by IQVIA Connected Intelligence™ to deliver actionable insights and services built on high-quality health data, Healthcare-grade AI®, advanced analytics, the latest technologies and extensive domain expertise. IQVIA is committed to using AI responsibly, with AI-powered capabilities built on best-in-class approaches to privacy, regulatory compliance and patient safety, and delivering AI to the high standards of trust, scalability and precision demanded by the industry. With approximately 88,000 employees in over 100 countries, including experts in healthcare, life sciences, data science, technology and operational excellence, IQVIA is dedicated to accelerating the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide.
IQVIA is a global leader in protecting individual patient privacy. The company uses a wide variety of privacy-enhancing technologies and safeguards to protect individual privacy while generating and analyzing information on a scale that helps healthcare stakeholders identify disease patterns and correlate with the precise treatment path and therapy needed for better outcomes. IQVIA’s insights and execution capabilities help biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, government agencies, payers, and other healthcare stakeholders tap into a deeper understanding of diseases, human behaviors and scientific advances, in an effort to advance their path toward cures. To learn more, visit www.iqvia.com.
