The Hindu Business Line : CII team to study best biotech practices

CII is organising a study mission on biotechnology on August 26 and 27 to showcase the best practices and people-related issues in leading biotech companies.

A 19-member delegation from nine companies and an educational institution will hold a meeting with the top management of some of the companies. Also on the cards are a presentation, a discussion and a visit to the companies' R&D facilities.

The mission aims to provide professionals from biotech companies an understanding of the best practices and people-related issues such as demand, quality of people, confidentiality norms for patents, retention of staff, work culture and diversity issues, said Dr Nirupa Bareja, Group Head (HR), Biocon, who will lead the team.

Biocon Ltd, AstraZeneca India Pvt Ltd and Avestha Gengraine Technology will host the mission.

Hewitt Associates will cover the areas of compensation and benchmarking for the biotech and pharma industry.

"With rapid modernisation and automation in a highly competitive business environment, there is a growing need to review and improve the practices being followed in biotech-related organisations," according to a CII release here.

"Scientific human resource is a huge strength, which we need to develop," said Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon and Chairperson of the CII task force on biotechnology.

"India's USP is really the speed and cost of R&D. While we need to increase our original research, our contract research services are in high demand. Our process development skills are highly developed and offer a high value-add to collaborative research," she said.

The delegation includes heads of operations, research, technology, HR, finance, policy makers and senior management officials from Biocon Ltd, Dhanvantari Botanicals Pvt Ltd, Dr Reddy's Labs, GVK Biosciences, Magene Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Presidency College, Samudra Biopharma Pvt Ltd, Syngene International Ltd and Tata Chemicals Ltd.