The Hindu Business Line : `Policy support needed to spur biotech sector'

TO boost the biotech sector, the Government must consider setting up a biotech fund to encourage start-ups, streamline the approval process and encourage partnership between industry and the academia.

Speaking at a Technology Day 2004 seminar on Biotechnology - The Leadership Opportunities for India, Dr Kiran Majumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon India Ltd, said, "The policies are not directed at viewing the global dimension of biotechnology. The regulatory procedure requires the industry to receive clearances from multiple agencies for any product, which delays commercialisation of the product." She said that there is need for a single body. "What is needed is a time-bound approach based on expertise on various aspects such as evaluation of data," she said.

Dr Shaw said that India enjoys a competitive edge in terms of low cost, quality of intellectual assets, biodiversity and clinical capabilities. "But we have to shift from imitative innovation to discovery-led innovation." She said that there is need to build the intellectual property rights regime, promote patenting culture, and encourage interface between academia and industry for commercialisation of biotech products.

"India is ranked 20th in the world in terms of patent filings, but Korea and China are ahead," she said. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which leads the country in patent filing, has witnessed a decrease in the number of patents filed by it in 2003 in comparison with 2002, she said. While the CSIR filed 124 patents, Ranbaxy filed 66, Hetero Drugs -- 41, Biocon filed 32 patents, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals had about 21 and Sun Pharma has filed 19 patents. In Korea, Samsung and LG alone have together filed 565 patent applications.

"There is also need for promoting of licensing of products by academic and research institutes to large corporates," Dr Shaw said citing examples of the City of Hope National Medical Centre working with companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Schering Plough and others.

The industry has also recommended to the Government to set up of a Rs 200-crore seed capital fund for giving financial assistance to the new biotech companies, she said. Meanwhile, the Government has set up task forces for reviewing regulatory processes for agri-biotech and pharma biotech products.

Biocon's clinical trials

Biocon Ltd is likely to start clinical trials of a cancer drug it is developing in the next three months.

The Bangalore-based company has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India to start the trials on the drug HR3 to treat head and neck cancer, Dr Shaw told newspersons on the sidelines of a biotech conference.

The biotech company already has products to reduce cholesterol and control diabetes and is looking at cashing in on the new patent regime that will come into effect next year.

The company, raised Rs 315 crore early this year by tapping the capital markets and is waiting for regulatory approval to commence sales of its insulin product developed along with the Hyderabad-based, Shantha Biotechnics Ltd.