The Hindu Business Line : Bio Asia meet to unveil Asian biotech union

BIO Asia-2005, the annual global bio-business forum being hosted jointly by the State Government, Genome Valley and All India Biotech Association (AIBA), will unveil the activities of the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA).

Addressing newspersons here on Thursday, Dr Ashok, State Secretary, Industries & Commerce, said the formalities pertaining to the registration of FABA with Hyderabad as its headquarters were completed and the Global Secretariat of FABA would be set up at Hyderabad shortly.

The three-day Summit, titled `Bringing Asia and the Global Biotech Community together by bridging the development divide', would begin on February 10 here.

According to the AP State Biotech Advisory Committee Chairman, Dr D. Balasubramanian, the summit would underscore the potential opportunities that India offers to biotech companies. These include clinical trials and contract manufacturing, he said.

A delegation from the US-based Biotechnology International (BTI), consisting of six CEOs of important companies and prominent scientists is participating in the summit and B2B meetings. Further, a special session on Bio-partnership forum opportunities in biotech and Bio-pharmaceutical sectors in the US was also arranged.

Similarly, another delegation from the US-based World Biotechnology Forum consisting of five prominent industrialists is also participating in B2B meetings and other sessions, Dr Balasubramanian said.

The State Secretary, Mr B.P. Acharya, said the Government's other objective in conducting Bio Asia-2005 was to honour distinguished scientists in the life sciences sector with the `Genome Valley Excellence Award'. The first recipients of the Award were Dr William Rutter and Dr M.S. Swaminathan.

This year, Dr William Haseltine, President of the US-based Haseltine Associates and founder of Human Genome Sciences, would be conferred with the Award, Dr Acharya said.

The AIBA Southern Chapter President, Dr B.S. Bajaj, said the Summit would play host to over 30 trade delegations from the US, Germany, the UK, Italy, France, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Israel, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

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