The Hindu Business Line : Five more biotech parks in offing in AP

ENTHUSED by the success of biotechnology parks in Hyderabad and Pune, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) proposes to set up at least five more modern biotech parks across the country in the next couple of years.

Addressing newspersons at the inaugural function of Bio Asia-2006 here on Thursday, the DBT Secretary, Dr M.K. Bhan, said a Working Group was formed with representation from States for an effective promotion of biotechnology in the country.

The Working Group would come up with concrete proposals pertaining to the initiatives of the respective States in the next six months. Apart from sharing experiences, the States would also help each other in overcoming hurdles through lessons learnt in their experiences.

The proposed biotech parks would help incubate and nurture biotech ventures. They would offer services in the areas of contract research and clinical trials and also help development of new biotech products and processes. The idea was to have 10 such biotech parks by 2010, he said.

According to him, the apprehensions widely expressed over the occupancy in biotech parks were allayed by the success stories of these ventures at Hyderabad and Pune, which could even attract global players to set up their facilities in the country.

At a prolonged round of discussions with representatives of State-level biotechnology departments here on Friday, the DBT has also decided to consider promoting biotechnology clusters in big way. According to Dr Bhan, at present Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune were having biotech clusters.

The States that have shown interest in setting up similar clusters as well as biotech parks include Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Kerala. The States have agreed to develop the biotech clusters and biotech parks in public-private partnership (PPP) model with the support of DBT.

Clinical Institute at Hyderabad

Talking to newspersons on the sidelines of Bio Asia-2006, the Andhra Pradesh Biotechnology Director, Dr A. Ashok, said the DBT had agreed to set up `Clinical Research Trials Institute' at Hyderabad for conducting large-scale clinical trials. Indicating that it could be set up at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), which already has rich experience in conducting clinical trials, he said the DBT would extend the necessary budgetary support for the initiative.

Further, the DBT had also agreed to the setting up of a Super Speciality Medical College at Hyderabad for highly specialised courses in biotechnology. Towards this, one of the medical colleges in the State would be identified and upgraded, Dr Ashok said.

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