The National Biopharma
Mission has been launched by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology on 30th June 2017 in New Delhi. This is an
Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India
that has been approved by the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs in its
meeting held on 17th May, 2017. Further, as per the Cabinet
approval, this Mission for Accelerating Discovery Research to
Early Development for Biopharmaceuticals – “Innovate in India (i3)” Empowering biotech
entrepreneurs & accelerating inclusive innovation will be
implemented at a total cost of Rs. 1500 crore for a period of five years and
50% of the grant will be arranged through the World Bank loan.
The
following are the objectives of the Mission:
i. Development
of products from leads that are at advanced stages in the product development
lifecycle and relevant to the public health.
ii. Strengthening
and establishing shared infrastructure
facilities for both product discovery validation and manufacturing.
iii. Developing
human capital by providing specific training to address the critical skills
gaps in researchers, nascent biotech companies across the product development
value chain, including in business plan development and market penetration.
iv. Creating
and enhancing technology transfer and intellectual property management
capacities and capabilities in public and private sector.
The Mission Programme of Department
of Biotechnology, will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research
Assistance Council (BIRAC) a Public Sector Undertaking of the Department. BIRAC as an umbrella Product Development Partnership (PDP)
would facilitate this program by bringing together partners through existing
frameworks for specific program goals and would facilitate this program
by involving established organizations with relevant expertise in product
development
The programme will
specifically focus on the development of new vaccines, bio-therapeutics,
diagnostics and medical devices to better address the rising burden of diseases
in the country. It will also bring isolated centres of excellence together,
enhance regional capabilities and strengthen the current bio-clusters network
in terms of capacities as well as quantity and quality of output. The programme will help
deliver 6-10 new products in the next five years, create several dedicated
facilities for next-generation skills.
The program would aid in preparing India’s
technological and product development capabilities in the
biopharmaceutical sector to a level so that it is globally competitive.
This information was
given by Minister of State for Ministry of Science & Technology and
Ministry of Earth Sciences Shri Y.S.Chowdary in a written reply to a question
in Lok Sabha today.
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RDS/nb