The Hindu Business Line : AstraZeneca winds up research society

Bangalore March 20 AstraZeneca has disbanded the AstraZeneca Research Foundation India (AZREFI), its 20-year-old not-for-profit society that was supporting biomedical research projects in a few institutions.

Future grants will now be channelised through AstraZeneca Pharma India or AstraZeneca India, the company said.

Founded by a group of Swedish and Indian scientists and led by Dr Ananda Kumar, it has provided grants worth $2.5 million (around Rs 11.25 crore) to encourage the discovery of therapeutics, prophylactics and diagnostics for diseases afflicting large populations; nominees of the Government and AstraZeneca administered the foundation.

"The Indian environment for applied biomedical research has changed dramatically over the past 20 years," a company release said.

"[The erstwhile foundation] has met its initial goals and has restructured its funds for the long term, Following a year-long discussion between the board of AZREFI and the Government and AstraZeneca, the society (early this year) decided to dissolve the formal constitution and invest in more long-term projects of Indian science started by AZREFI."

Among the beneficiaries to get an AZ chair, endowment or grant are St John's National Academy of Health Sciences (Rs 7 crore); IIT, Madras (Rs 2 crore); NIPER (Rs 60 lakh); IBAB, Bangalore and Centre of Human Genetics, Bangalore (Rs 45 lakh each); and IISc (Rs 25 lakh).

It also supported Bangalore Genei (a molecular biology tools supplier); Biocon's contract research arm Syngene; diagnostics enterprise XCyton; and Strand Genomics.

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