The Hindu Business Line : Avesthagen gets Rs 2.75-cr CSIR grant

AVESTHA Gengraine Technologies Pvt. Ltd. On Tuesday announced that it has received a Rs 2.75-crore grant from the CSIR for its pipeline food supplement product, the DHA or omega-3 fatty acid.

The product will be brought to market by 2006 with the grant under the NMITLI (New Millennium Initiative for Technology Leadership), Avesthagen said in a release here.

The biotech research company began work in 2003 on DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an essential ingredient of infant food formulas. DHA, with a global market worth $300-400 million and said to be touching 15 per cent growth rate in 2005, has been used in conditions like Alzheimer's, arthritis, cardiovascular and neurological diseases. It is currently got from marine sources.

The company has a strong pipeline of other products in progressive stages of research and development. Avesthagen's Founder and CEO, Dr Villoo Morawala Patell, said, "Our research is focussed on generating novel nutraceutical products that use medicinal plant-based solutions for chronic degenerative conditions such as diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis etc. where no effective treatment currently exists. By 2010, we will bring to market a range of clinically validated nutritional compounds which will be licensed to large food companies for use as nutraceutical supplements and functional foods."

Dr G. Padmanaban, former Director of Indian Institute of Science and Chairman of the NMITLI monitoring committee, said, "Avesthagen's DHA project is a great example for a successful private-public sector partnership. This path breaking research marks the first step towards discovery and development of socially relevant and commercially viable projects for the biotechnology sector in India."

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