| Tuesday, August 12, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| With this, structural molecular biology as a discipline of research took firm roots in the country. And leading scientists in the country say that this remarkable development was also the beginning of modern biotechnology in India. After spending nearly 20 years in Chennai, Prof Ramachandran moved to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and set up the Molecular Biophysics Unit. India’s biotechnology sector has not looked back since then. From Chennai and Bangalore, biotechnology activities have moved to many corners of the country. Now the activities are fairly widespread. The North, South and the Western regions of the country have seen the rise of varied biotech infrastructure— companies, educational insitutions, research centers, repositories of national biotech wealth and of course policy makers who chart the growth of this industry.West Ahmedabad-Vadodara-Bhavnagar Craving for the Biotech Edge After missing the information technology train in the 1990s, Gujarat is aiming for a slot in the biotech segment, banking on its strengths in chemicals, pharmaceuticals and dairying. The state government has identified healthcare and pharmaceuticals, agricultural biotechnology, industrial enzymes, bioinformatics, contract research, marine and environmental biotechnology as the thrust areas in biotechnology. Arvind Kushwah, research executive, Indus Biotheraputics, a leading company in Ahmedabad said, "Looking at the opportunity and available resources in the state we see good growth for biotechnology. Although the industry in the state is still in a nascent stage, it will pick up as many institutions are offering biotechnology courses. The government is also considering setting up of Biotech Park." Added Rajesh Kishore, secretary, department of science and technology, government of Gujarat, " We are still working on the policy. Once it is ready other things will follow." The government has appointed a committee to prepare a draft biotech policy which the industry is interested in and is expected to place its report before the industry in a couple of months for its suggestion and comments. Institutional support Besides the leading universities in the state, the CSIR-run Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar is the anchor for the biotech research activities in Gujarat. The state is keen to develop expertise in marine biotechnology in a big way with CSMCRI’s help. The institute, established in 1954 , is currently working on R & D activities focusing on areas such as inorganic chemicals, catalysis and new materials, membrane science and separation technology and biosalinity. Kishore informed BioSpectrum that, "the government is discussing with CSMCRI for setting up a center of excellence in marine biotechnology at the institute. The government is also eager to give matching grant for setting up the center." Besides universities like Gujarat Agricultural University, MS University, Sardar Patel University and Saurashtra University are also providing the basic scientific knowledge in biotechnology to the student community. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the world’s largest dairy development program, based in Anand near Vadodara, is carrying out extensive research and development activities in biotechnology. It aims to develop formulations and technologies useful for improving the productivity of milch animals. In 1979, the Dairy Board set up an animal disease diagnostic laboratory at Anand to undertake scientific research activities. NDDB has expanded its research activities to include animal genetics, animal health and animal nutrition for supporting its productivity enhancement program for dairy cooperatives. NDDB also offers consultancy services and training programs to breeding organizations, cattle feed plants, disease diagnostic laboratories, vaccine manufacturing units as well as to national and international governmental and non-governmental organizations. Training is offered in the areas of cytogenetics, molecular genetics, embryo transfer, animal feed formulations, clinical diagnosis, control of parasitic diseases and other related areas of biotechnology. Industry leaders Gujarat is home to many leading drug companies like Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Cipla, Zydus Cadila, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Torrent Biotech, Sarabhai -Piramal, Maps India, Gujarat Life Sciences, Gujarat State Fertilizers Cooperation, Sun Agri and Gujarat Narmada Fertilizer Corporation to name a few. Most of these companies have set up biotechnology divisions to develop biopharma drugs. These companies are based in and around Ahmedabad and Vadodara. Sarabhai Piramal Pharmaceuticals Private Ltd., a joint venture between Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises Ltd and Nicholas Piramal India Ltd has been gathering rapid momentum within a short span of time. The focus of this venture is the search for newer molecules. Gujarat Life Sciences Pvt Ltd (GLS), a company based at Vadodara is also actively involved in biotechnology. Its focus is on agricultural and environmental biotechnology, biofertilizers, biocomposting, effluent treatment using bio-towers technology. It has entered into a joint association with the Gujarat Agriculture University whereby the research work carried out at the university will be transferred to GLS for development and subsequent commercialization. Maps is another key biotechnology company in Gujarat. From its humble beginning in 1975, it has become a respected and dynamic pillar of the enzyme industry. Today it is one of the Top 1000 national private business groups in India. It supplies high-quality industrial enzymes to a profuse variety of industries in India and abroad. Mumbai-Pune Aiming for the Bio-Future The nation’s commercial hub is aiming to consolidate its position in the ‘bio-future’ with emphasis on biotechnology in a big way. The state derives its confidence to be a leader in biotechnology based on its diverse strengths. These strengths include its human resource, the excellence of its private and public institutions, the infrastructure and a conducive business environment as well as the inherent strength of its industry. The state’s history of biotechnology engagement goes back to the 19th century when The Haffkine Institute was set up in 1899 in Mumbai. In 2003, the state has 4,100 registered pharmaceutical manufacturers out of the total of 20,053 in India and contributes about 40 percent of the sector’s total turn over. Many international companies have shown their preference to the state. The list includes GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Aventis, Knoll. India’s top biotech venture capital company, ICICI Ventures is also based in Mumbai. Major Indian companies such as Reliance Life Sciences, Wockhardt, Cipla, Lupin, Nicholas Piramal, SIRO Clinpharm are also marching forward into the frontline areas of biotechnology such as stem cells, new drug discovery, clinical trails, novel technologies and recombinant biotechnology. Wockhardt has entered biopharmaceuticals. Whereas Lupin and Nicholas Piramal are moving in a major way in innovative drug research, Reliance Life Sciences has made forays into stem cell research. SIRO Clinpharm has taken up clinical trial studies for multinational clients. Modern biomedical research requires a chain of hospitals and clinics ot establish clinical research organizations. Some of the best hospitals in India are located in Maharashtra, giving that extra support and impetus for conducting clinical trials of global standards. "Maharashtra is the first state to look at the clinical trials. The state has vast infrastructure facility in public health sector with over 1.2 lakh patients visiting the civil hospitals on daily basis. We are working with the health department and pharmaceutical companies to take up clinical trials in a big way," said Vishwas S Dhumal, principal secretary, industries, Government of Maharashtra. The state has an excellent intellectual infrastructure. Through nearly 1000 institutions, it produces around 163,000 trained technical personnel each year. The state has already set up specialized parks for different sections including IT and is working on to set up BT parks at Hinjawadi near Pune and Jalna near Aurangabad. The bio-industrial enterprises cannot sustain themselves unless they are backed up by a highly trained and skilled human resource. Some of the centers of excellence in India that are present in Maharashtra do precisely that. These include the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Indian Institute of Technology, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, University Department of Chemical Technology of Mumbai University, Cancer Research Institute and Kelkar’s Education Trust’s Scientific Research Center . Pune In 1954, Pune created a landmark in biotechnology by becoming the first Indian city to have a company producing penicillin, the Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd. The plant was then the largest producer of penicillin in Asia. The vaccines produced by Serum Institute of India Ltd, the foremost and the largest manufacturer of vaccines, sera and biologicals in India, reach every one out of four children in the world. The Venkateshwara Hatcheries group is the largest producer of poultry vaccines in India. Apart from these, Pune has also housed firms like Alfa Laval India, Praj Industries, SciNova Informatics and Persistent Systems which are major suppliers to the biotechnology industry.
The state government has signed up with Kolkata-based The Chatterjee Group to develop, promote and market the Hinjawadi pharma biotech park, Pune. The group will focus on facilities required for start-ups and companies which plan to manufacturing efficiencies of their product lines. Emcure has already commenced the formulation process while Shreya Life Sciences has taken up land at the park. "We want to leverage on IT potential with the BT to create platform for bioinformatics sector at Pune. Like biopharma the scope and opportunity for bioinformatics is also huge," said Dhumal. Tata Consultancy Services, which has a unit in IT park in Pune is strongly looking at setting up their bioinformatics section in the state. Aditya P Sethi, senior manager, marketing, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation informed that other IT majors that have presence in Pune IT park like Infosys and Wipro are also considering setting up of bioinformatics units at BT park in Pune. To provide support and to meet the industry needs the government has established University of Pune as the center of excellence in biotechnology. Other life science and biotechnology institutes which are based in Pune, include the National Center for Cell Science, National Institute of Virology, National Chemical Laboratory, National Aids Research Institute, Agharkar Research Institute, Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Environment Education & Research and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Information Technology & Biotechnology, Vasant Dada Sugar Institute and University of Pune. The Animal Diseases Investigations Laboratory, Pune involved in diagnosis and research of animal diseases, especially in four states of the western region of the country, has been recognized as a reference laboratory by the central government . New forward-looking initiatives in providing specialized education in biotechnology, such as by the Vidya Pratisthan’s School in biotechnology, have already begun to emerge. India’s seed capital - Aurangabad Bio-agriculture has strengthened its roots in the state through one of the largest seed producing companies, Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco) that produces and markets a broad range of quality seeds developed with biotechnology. Currently, it is engaged in conducting field trials of transgenic seeds in collaboration with a multinational company, Monsanto. "We see great scope in agri biotechnology, as Maharashtra is known for its horticulture sector. To promote agri biotechnology at Jalna in Aurangabad - the seed capital of India - we have appointed Mahyco, the first company to launch Bt cotton in India," added Dhumal. Mahyco is talking to Indian as well as foreign agriculture universities to up grade the knowledge and research activities in the state and to get the right support the industry is looking at in the areas of bio fertilizer, bio pesticides, veterinary health and herbicides. "In the Jalna-Aurangabad belt companies like Syngenta, Seminis, Monsanto, Mahendra Hybrid Seeds, Nath Seeds and Ajeet Seeds Ltd have already set up their units in bioagricutlure sector," informed Sethi. Components of biotechnology in the form of tissue culture, bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides have already gained popularity in the state. As many as 21 tissue culture laboratories have been set up in the Maharashtra. The state’s agriculture universities have made considerable headway in the field. The development of molecular techniques has been initiated. Various research projects are in progress and biotechnology forms a part of the curriculum at all levels of study in state agriculture universities. Chhattisgarh - The Genome State The three-year-old Chhattisgharh state in central India is positioning itself as the "Genome State." The state hopes to contribute five percent of the national biotech output by 2012 and is concentrating on sectors such as bioagriculture, bioinformatics, health care including diagnostics, therapeutics and pharmacogenomics, industrial and environmental biotechnology. A Rs 30-crore Biotechnology Development Fund is being set up to assist the emerging industry. Based in the state capital of Raipur, CHIPS (the Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society) is the state’s biotech implementation agency. "Biotechnology offers hope for farmers, who are perpetually wrestling with the challenge to reduce input costs, minimize crop failure and eliminate damage to health and environment. BT offers promise of greater yields, newer vaccines, and several other benefits intimate to livelihoods. Through bio-remedies we can secure our pristine heritage, one of the richest and least spoilt biospheres in the world, while ensuring industrial growth. The age-old wisdom of our traditional healing and other knowledge systems and nutritional habits can reach a larger number of our people more effectively, said the Chief Minister Ajit Jogi. Chhattisgarh, particularly the Bastar region, is one of the three richest biospheres in India. The state is endowed with about 22 varied forest types. Chhattisgarh state is extremely rich in aromatic plants used in herbal medicine. The state has thousands of square kilometers of virgin biosphere reserves where primordial tribes flourish. The local communities have established traditional knowledge systems of self-healing, nutrition and bio-produce based on bio-wealth. CHIPS is working on setting up a network of Bio Parks in Chhattisgarh. leveraging on the natural resource endowments. Additional CEO of CHIPS, Amit Kumar said, "High quality infrastructure would be provided at competitive rates along with relevant integrated services to biotech manufacturing units in biotech parks. Joint venture and wholly private initiatives in investments are welcome in Chhattisgarh. Several public good services such as databases on human resources availability, networking with academic centres of research and industry, one-stop services would be provided by the government." The state is also planning to prepare a database of its entire biodiversity and bio-practices in all the 20,000 odd villages in 2003 and turn it into a GIS-supported database and Decision Support System. It also plans to set up Centers of Excellence in Biotechnology at all the universities.South Hyderabad- The Genome Valley The pharma capital of South India, Hyderabad, has extended its presence strongly into biotechnology in recent years. The city is leveraging its inherent strengths in the pharma and thanks to the presence of some of the country’s leading biotechnology research centers, Hyderabad is all set to become the Genome Valley of the country. In fact, in the suburbs of Hyderabad, India’s first exclusive Genome Valley, housing leading biotechnology companies, has come up. Hyderabad has yet another feather in its cap. The nation’s first exclusive biotech venture fund ( APIDC-VCL) with an initial corpus of Rs 40 crore has been launched in May 2003 by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation. "The big picture of biotechnology is emerging. Things are falling into place now," said Andhra Pradesh government’s secretary, industry, B P Acharya. Hyderabad’s core strength is the presence of some of the nation’s top pharmaceutical companies like Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Gland Pharma and Natco Pharma. The country’s top two hepatitis B vaccine makers, Shantha Biotechnics and Bharat Biotech were founded in the city in the late 1990s. Ocimum Biosolutions, Biogenus, Medgene Biotech, Microbax, Disha Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, Transgene Bioteck are among the other fast growing biotech companies which have started operations in the state capital in recent years. Hyderabad boasts of some of the country’s top biotech research centers. These are the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), both part of the CSIR chain of laboratories. The School of Life Science of the University of Hyderabad is another globally known institution which is working in cutting edge areas of genetics. L V Prasad Eye Research Institute and the Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics are acclaimed research centers in the city. Apollo Hospitals is taking up clinical trials of drugs in a big way. The other leading research institutions in Hyderabad are the Bhagwan Mahavir Medical Research Center, Center for Liver Research and Diagnostics,
Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, department of microbiology of Osmania University, Institute of Genetics. The southern chapter of the All India Biotech Association is also based in Hyderabad. ICICI Knowledge Park in the Genome Valley is a pride of Hyderabad and the center piece of the Genome Valley. The Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park is also coming up next to it and is attracting a large number of biotech companies. A Rs 30-crore incubator with all the infrastructure facilities and sophisticated instruments required for biotech research will also come up in the park. To facilitate cutting edge research, the Indian Council of Medical Research is setting up an Animal Test Facility as part of the National Bio Resources Research Institute. " It will be the city’s USP for biotech companies," added Acharya. Chennai - The Bio Valley Chennai has been an early adopter of biotechnology. Chennai’s biotech showpiece, the Rs 62.5 crore Ticel Bio Park Limited, in collaboration with Cornell University, was inaugurated last April. Its wet labs are equipped with the latest equipment to facilitate top quality research in fermentation & microbiology, molecular biology, plant tissue culture, downstream processing and analysis. Besides the park will also feature - Customized Lab Facility, Greenhouse Facility and Training Center. The Park is expected to become operational by January 2004. While inaugurating the Ticel (TIDCO Center for Life Sciences) park, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said that her Government would soon set up a Marine Biotechnology Park at Mamallapuram with an investment of Rs 50 crore, to offer unique incubating facilities for commercial exploitation in pharmaceuticals, food supplements and cosmetics. The Golden Jublee Biotech Park for Women Society set up on the outskirts of Chennai is the first Park in India exclusively for women entrepreneurs in biotechnology. The park, which was commercialized in May 2001 offers centralized support services to a series of biotechnology, based activities by women. "The biotech enterprises are more in the lower end of the
spectrum with project sizes from a few lakh to a couple of crore. We are enterprises in the area of cosmetics, bio fertilizers, herbal spices, aqua ornamentals, food research etc. Our future plan includes a bio-informatics center and incubation center," said Dr Sucharita Kumar, CEO, Biotech Park for Women. Promoted by the DBT and the state government,the technical support is being extended by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. Besides the Marine Biotechnology Park, the state plans to start centers like Medicinal Plants Biotechnology Park and the Bioinformatics and Genomics Centre (BGC). MSSRF- the magnet for biotech Chennai can boast of yet another organization - MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, which was established at a time when human kind started facing serious ecological and social problems. The foundation was started by world famous geneticist M S Swaminathan. MSSRF has accorded the highest priority to the application of frontier technologies for enhancing food and livelihood security of the coastal farming and fishing communities. The biotechnology program at the MSSRF focuses on conservation, sustainable utilization and enhancement of the vital bio-resources in the coastal region. MSSRF was the first to propose the concept that mangroves can be invaluable donors of breeding crop genotypes adapted to coastal salinity through recombinant DNA technology. Efforts for identification of unique genes in mangroves have also been undertaken using large-scale genome sequencing and differential expression analysis. As many as 2000 partial gene sequences from mangroves have been deposited in worldwide databases. The Center for Biotechnology (CBT) at Anna University, established in 1987 is a pride of Tamil Nadu by being the first of its kind institutes being set up in India. The B-Tech(Industrial Biotechnology) program evolved in 1991 is again the first of its kind in India. The R&D facility established here is to the tune of Rs 15 crore and has high-end infrastructure to cater to the industrial needs, said Prof Arun Balakrishnan, Director - Center for Biotechnology, Anna University. The center has facilities to conduct research in bioprocess technology, mMolecular biology, cell biology and immunology."In future we plan to convert CBT into a Contract Research Organization (CRO) with GMP for product development. Further we intend to span its collaborative activities with industry to convert basic research into technology and attract more and more young entrepreneur’s to use facility for business incubation," said Balakrishnan. The deparment of biotechnology at Madurai Kamaraj Univeristy in the southern city of Madurai is a nationally acclaimed research centers. It is among the handful of universities which has been running an M.Tech( biotech) program for over a decade. The bioinformatics candidates from this institution are lapped by the industry in a big way. CLRI (Central Leather Research Institute), run by the CSIR, has been in the forefront in the development of technologies for leather sector. Headquartered in Chennai, CLRI caters to the leather industry in the pre-tanning and post-tanning areas. "In biotechnology, research work is carried out on the use of microbial enzyme technology. In the leather industry, the major problem is caused because of the use of sodium sulphide and lime in the pre-tanning operations. Sodium sulphide is highly toxic and causes major problem to workers in this industry. Use of slime creates sludge problem. To obviate these problems efforts are underway to develop enzymatic products from microbes to fully replace sodium sulphide and lime," said Dr R Puvanakrishnan, deputy director & head, department of Biotechnology, CLRI. There is a bunch of private players in Tamil Nadu who too are tapping the bio-resources of the State. Shantha Marine has notched up a turnover of Rs 6 crore in its first year of operations and on the basis of its current orders "and we hope to achieve around Rs 15 crore during the current year. "With our planned foray into the international markets this is expected to double," said KO Isaac, MD, Shantha Marine Biotech. Working with microbial metabolites sourced from the oceans is its focus area. This involves constantly isolating new strains from various coastal environments, coral reefs, mangroves and the ocean floor in pursuit of better producers of targeted metabolites. "Considering that these strains are wild, these need to be changed so that culture, growth and metabolite characteristics conform to requirements of a commercial scale production cycle and feasibility. This is much like attempting to start a dairy farm with a wild cow," added Isaac. In addition, the company also works with the concept of creating ‘biological reactors’ with its organisms whereby genetic material for the production of an altogether new ‘metabolite’ is inserted into the organisms so that it can produce the targeted metabolite at a significantly cheaper cost. Amrutanjan, based out of Chennai is making a strong impact in the biotechnology space. In biotechnology the company is focusing in the cloning and expression of recombinant therapeutic protein. As part of the expansion into biotech research, it is constructing a biotech R&D unit. The unit will have a facility for protein downstream processing, work related to molecular biology, tissue culture, mammalian cell culture etc. UK-based Amersham Biosciences, a world leader in developing systems and solutions for disease research, drug discovery, drug development, and drug manufacture has its Indian head office in Chennai. Similarly there are players like EID Parry, JK Pharmachem, Mediclone Biotech Ltd, Malladi Research Center, SPIC, Brainwave, Eppendorf, Micro Devices Metrohm, to name a few , making a mark in biotechnology. Nisha Kurien (CNS) Bangalore - The Biotech-friendly City The nation’s largest bio-cluster is located in Bangalore, the Silicon City. With nearly 80 companies and 8,000 biotechnology professionals, the Garden City is one of the leaders n biotech. The city is the home to the country’s largest biotech company, Biocon, several research centers run by multinational companies and some of the country’s top biotech research institutions.
The industry has been attracted to the city mainly due to the availability of talented human resources. Over 32,000 students are pursuing biotech related courses in over 400 colleges affiliated to Bangalore University. The other magnets are the presence of the Indian Institute of Science ( IISc), one of the most prestigious research centers in the country. The National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) of the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was set up in 1991 in the Garden City. And it is yet another attraction for biotech professionals. Two other research centers, the University of Agricultural Sciences and the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research are home to some of the country’s leading biotech researchers. Other institutions like the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Center for Human Genetics, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education and the Central Food Technology Research Institute in Mysore ( 130 km from Bangalore) contribute a lot to the city’s biotech profile AstraZeneca’s $ 40 million ( Rs 185-crore) research center based in the city has the mandate to conduct research on cutting edge areas in biotechnology, especially in the health sector. The world’s second largest seed company, Monsanto’s research center in India is based in the IISc campus. So is the research center of another top seed company, Nunhems Seeds, which is developing a number of transgenic vegetable seeds. After Biocon, which was set up in 1979, a large number of biotech companies have come up in the city, especially in the last five years. The leading organizations are: Gangagen, Strand Genomics, Bigtec, Kshema , CDC, Linux, Molecular Connections, Avesthagen, Metahelix, Advanta, Syngene, Aurigene, Genotypic Technology, Bangalore Genei, Animal Biotech, Lotus Labs, Millipore, Wipro Life Sciences, ClinTec. Since 2001, the state’s Vision Group on Biotechnology has organized an annual event , Bangalore Bio 2003, which is currently the nation’s largest biotechnology show. A biotechnology park is coming up in the city adjoining the Electronics City. Kerala - The Herbal Valley 1The God’s Own Country, buoyed by the global attention as a tourist hot spot, is making a splash into the biotech arena on the back of its strengths in the traditional medicine system Ayurveda and its rich biodiversity. Kerala is one of the 12 designated global biodiversity hotspots. The tropical climate is conducive for the proliferation of a wide spectrum of bio-resources. Over 700 species of flora and fauna can be found per sq km, and a wide variety of aquatic species can be found in the State’s territorial waters. The state is the clear leader in traditional Ayurvedic medicine and in the application of medicinal and aromatic plants/ spices. Institutions such as the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala, in addition to several other venerable institutions, represent a unique competitive advantage to Kerala in terms of the repository of knowledge, clinical practice, manufacturing practice and presence of a distributed supply chain mechanism for inputs as well as outputs relating to the medicinal plants sector. The largest number of training institutions for Ayurveda, the largest number of Ayurvedic doctors amongst states, the largest number of Ayurvedic clinics/hospitals, etc. are in Kerala An Agricultural Export Zone focussed exclusively on the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants is proposed to be created around 7 districts of central Kerala. A Herbal Biovalley has been notified extending between the Silent Valley Bio-reserve and Wayanad Hill Range. Some 54 percent of the world’s volume of spice exports comes from India and the majority share is from Kerala. In addition, premier research institutions such as the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Indian Institute of Spice Research (IISR) are involved in cutting edge areas of medical and agro-based biotechnology research. Further, premier institutions such as the Central Marine Fisheries Institute (CMFRI) and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) are premier national institutes that shall support marine BT based industry. Academic institutions like Kerala Agricultural University, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Calicut University bring out trained and specialized manpower in the areas of agriculture, medicine and biotechnology. The state has also increased the number of professional colleges and allowed private participation in professional education. Companies like Synthetic Chemicals, Marico and Arjun Extract, Nagarjuna Extracts, etc are some of the leading names in the biotech sector. The annual turnover of the Ayurveda clinics are estimated in the region of Rs 500 crore. The spices exports from the state is around Rs 600 crore.
Kerala has the highest ratio of Ph.Ds to total population of the region, in the entire world, as well as the highest density of S&T personnel in the country. The Future "Kerala is positioning itself for leadership in the phytopharmaceutical space, as well as the functional foods, functional supplements space," informed Rajiv Vasudevan, Officer on Special Duty for biotechnology in the state government. The state is devising a long term plan that focuses on creating a unique enabling environment for BT industry in the areas of offshore/contract research and offshore/contract manufacture of synthetic drugs as well biopharmaceuticals. This is predicated upon the quality of its knowledge workers, scientists, as well as general population. Vasudevan said an ‘Office for Technology Transfer’ has been set up to facilitate and promote industry-research institution collaboration. Further, a unique incubator-led strategy is expected to be implemented within the next two months to allow biotech companies to have a minimum cost of entry and thereby minimise their risk. The incubator will proovide technical consultancy, technology incubation as well as business incubation services. Separate incubators are envisaged for the phytopharma space as well as that for the mainstream biotechnology space.
This industry is growing in the same manner as that of its counterparts in other parts of the world. Scientific laboratories have concentrated on tackling the fundamental questions and develop applications, entrepreneurs taking over at this stage and take these products and services to the commercialization stage with government support and funds from private and corporate investors. And most of these developments have taken place in clusters with one or two leading institutions acting as the core. In the US, where the biotech biotech industry is the most advanced in the world, bulk of the activities take place in seven clusters. In the last two decades, biotech industry has taken firm roots in at least 17 other clusters worldwide. The first global listing of global bio clusters does not include the efforts in India as the size has yet to reach a critical mass. Where is the action in biotechnology in India? A few hundred research centers and neary 200 companies form the core of the biotech segment in India. BioSpectrum has compiled a list of India’s leading bio clusters. There are 10 clusters where India’s biotechnology activities are concentrated. Which are they? Read on. North National Capital Region The National Capital Region is a 1,000-sq.km territory comprising the Capital city of New Delhi, the industrial suburbs of Gurgaon in the southwest in the state of Haryana, the NOIDA region in the south east in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in the Ministry of Science and Technology is the center of the biotech universe not only in the North but the whole country as it formulates the policies and strategies for the development of this sector. The Rajiv Gandhi government set up DBT in 1986 as the world’s first government ministry dedicated exclusively to the biotechnology sector. DBT channelizes the funds, provides scientific inputs for poicy formulations, handles some of the key regulatory agencies in the sector and interacts with the government agencies abroad.
New Delhi is also home to four other key government departments—the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment and Forests—which are involved closely with the development of biotechnology. Two other important government agencies—the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which runs a chain of 39 laboratories out of which 12 are dominant players in biotech and the Indian Council of Agricutlural Research (ICAR) with its 91 laboratories out of which at least 20 do top end research in biotech, are also headquartered in the Capital. New Delhi is also home to a large number of national and international research centers. At the top of the heap is the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biology (ICGEB). This UN funded institution has major research activities in genetics based out of New Delhi. ICGEB has another wing in Trieste, Italy. It was set up in 1995 and is supported with funds by 26 countries. An Indian version of ICGEB is the Institute of Genetics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), a laboratory under the CSIR . It is also located in North Delhi adjoining the Delhi University campus along with ICGEB. The National Institute of Immunology (NII) funded by the DBT and set up in 1987 in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in South West Delhi is another top research center. The JNU also conducts research on developing genetically modified (GM) food products and is a major teaching center for biotechnology. Besides, JNU coordinates the national entrance examination to select students for post graduate programs in biotechnology in nearly two dozen top institutions in the country. Supported by DBT, this rigorous selction process is similar to that of the one conducted to enrol students for the graduate engineering programs in the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The National Research Center DNA Finger Printing is the latest research center in the Capital region. BioAgriculture research activities are also concentrated in the Capital. India’s premier farm research center, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), is located in the heart of Central Delhi. IARI’s research teams are developing at least half-a-dozen GM food products and is also the home of some of the nation’s top agriculture experts. IARI was shifted to New Delhi from Pusa in Bihar in the 1920s. The National Bureau of Plant Genetics Resources (NBPGR) on the IARI campus is the home to the germplasm collections of all the crop varieties in India and abroad. In the 1990s, the National Research Center of Plant Biology under ICAR was set up the Capital. Business too blooms Of course, NCR is not just dominated by the government sector. Nearly 50 biotech companies operate in the NCR. The leader is the global giant The first biotech industry association, the All India Biotech Association (AIBA) operates out of New Delhi. Two leading industry associations, the Confederation of India Industry (CII) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), based in the Capital , have been promoting biotech in a big way in the last five years. CII has started ot organize an annul biotech show and ASSOCHAM has been organizing a Biotechnology Millennium Summit for three years. Both the organizations have been taking up the problems of the biotech industry strongly with the government. The Noida region is being developed as a "biotechnology corridor" by the Uttar Pradesh government. A large number of bioinformatics companies have started operations in this region. Many of these, like the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Bioinformatics Institute of India etc are also offering bioinformatics courses to hundreds of students every year. Uttaranchal The Biotech Valley? The picturesque Uttaranchal nestling in the lap of Himalayas in developing as the Biotech Valley. The 27th state of India created in 2000 is banking on its rich diversity of flora and fauna, rare species of plants and animals and other natural resources to spur the biotechnology industry. The state has engaged its leading research institution, the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Rabo India Finance and the Infrastructure Development Finance Company to chalk out a biotech strategy. There are also plans to set up an Institute of Biotechnology in the state.
Right now the G B Pant University in Pantnagar is the fulcrum of Uttaranchal’s biotech activities. As the nation’s first full fledged agriculture university, it has invested heavily in research in areas like microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, etc, since it’s inception. These efforts have made significant strides in plant breeding, plant pathology, horticulture, process engineering and food technology. Currently, the university is working on various projects in biotechnology in the areas of crop biotechnology, biological control, biofertilizers, process engineering, funded by the DBT besides its own efforts in the areas of vaccine development, immunodiagnostics, embryo transfer technology and plant tissue culture. The Bioinformatics Center set up recently in the university has fulfilled the long-standing need to improve the communication facility in this remote area. It facilitates access to relevant biotechnology information by the scientific community, researchers and students of the University as well as others from nearby institutions. "The field of biotech is an emerging field. This field offers scope for a lot more technology gdevelopments. We are very much focussed on joining the main stream and work according to the requirements of industry. That is why, bioinformatics is our core area of focus." said Dr Anil Kumar, handling the bioinformatics center in the university. Punjab The Biotech Destination Long before biotechnology became a fashionable sector, the CSIR set up the Institute for Microbial Technology (IMTECH) in Chandigarh to take up research in microbial bio-processing in 1984. The Central Scientific and Industrial Organization (CSIO) too has been developing a number of biotech based diagnostic kits. These two centers form the nucleus of the biotech research center in the region. Being a predominantly agriculture-based economy, Punjab has been trying to use biotech inputs in agriculture. Now the state is developing a Biotechnology Park in the suburbs of Chandigarh to nurture commercially viable leads through companies. The first cluster would comprise of 10-15 industrial units in agri-biotech and health care sectors. " We are engaging Beckons Industries Limited to develop the first cluster. Subsequently, additional clusters will be established to expand the park," said S S Marwaha,, director (Biotechnology), Punjab State Council for Science & Technology (PSCST), the nodal agency to handle biotech developments in the state. The PSCST plans to facilitate the sourcing of technological know-how and Beckons would market the products to be generated by the biotech industry in the first cluster. ‘Punjab Biotechnology Park Limited’, is a public-private partnership company has been registered to look after the developmental activities of this cluster. About 20 industrial houses/entrepreneurs have already approached the company to enter into agreement for setting up of first biotech units within the park. A Biotech Incubator is proposed to be an integral component of this park. The incubator facility would offer enterprise development support for biotech companies across the development spectrum thereby playing a significant role in accelerating biotechnology commercially. The state also plans to develop the infrastructure for R&D, data validation, ommercialization and public awareness in the area of biotechnology. "About 100 postgraduates including masters and doctorates and more than 200 graduates in different fields of biotechnology/bioengineering are being produced every year from these institutions. In this way the state is producing technical work force for the biotech industry," added Dr Marwaha Punjab has also announced a state-level biotech policy on February 28 in 2003. The salient features of the policy are:
A series of fiscal incentives and a liberal regulatory regime too have been announced to facilitate the growth of the segment in the state. A Punjab Biotechnology Promotion Board (PBPB) with the chief minister as its chairman and members from the planning & development departments of the state, biotech industry, biotech consultants and financial institutions as well as some progressive farmers and NGOs too has been set up.
Lucknow The Biotech City When you embark on a tour of Lucknow city, you will find a fair number of big, beautiful buildings. These are not just architectural wonders. They are some of the modern temples where pioneering research work is going on. There are in fact four research centers run by the CSIR. These are NBRI ( National Botanical Research Center), CIMAP ( Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants), ITRC ( Industrial Technology Research Center)and the famous historical Chattar Manzil of CDRI (Central Drug Research Institute). Together these centers represent the core of the emergence of Lucknow as a Biotech City. Dr PK Seth,the former director of Indian Toxicology Research Centre and Co-ordinator of the Biotech-Park project has some promising expectations with the project. "The strength of Lucknow in this field has been acknowledged by the scientific community. Before we actually started working on this project, we had analyzed that the city has around 20 institutions which are working in the field of biotech. Apart from these four CSIR labs, some of the major strengths of Lucknow in biotech area include three ICAR labs, Chattarpati Shahuji Maharaj Medical College (formerly known as KGMC), Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences. Low cost of R&D facilities of 26 scientific institutions is an attraction for outsourcing research to Lucknow or its neighboring cities. Another source of attraction to the industry is it’s trained manpower. The city has over 400 scientists, technicians and 500 research students." The Central and state governments are pulling out all stops to ensure that Lucknow becomes the "Biotech City." Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, who represents the Lucknow parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha, set the ball rolling in January 2002 to announce the city’s biotech campaign. Various state and central government agencies are involved in this campaign. A biotech park will come up on an 8-acre campus on the city outskirts. The Park will also establish a network between all scientific institutes in Lucknow and other cities. A website www.biotechcitylucknow.org has also been been set up. A number of top biotech industries such as Dabur Research Foundation, Shantha Biotechnics and Bharat Biotech may set up operations at the park soon. A special biofertilizer unit will be established there and tissue culture facility will also be set up in the park. The project cost has been estimated at Rs 18.7 crore. All the eminent scientists of Lucknow are involved in the project. Dr P Pushpangadan, director NBRI, is also very enthusiastic about the project and said, "This park will certainly bring good employment opportunity and value for the Lucknow scientists. As far as the participation of NBRI is concerned, the entire scientific community here is eager to explore the biotech market through this park. Exposure for not only local but also, all north Indian scientific community will gain high momentum at the Biotech Park. It is also good that it will be linked with other biotech parks of the country." There are other biotech activities too in the city. A Bioinformatics Center, supported by the DBT and CSIR has been set up at ITRC as a networking site. This center has established links with various biotechnology institutions. Another biotech park will soon be set up in the campus of the Remote Sensing Application Center of the Department of Space. It will have industrial modules and bio-business center and training laboratories. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Bio Active India - The 10 hot spots
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment