Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Jul 27, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Jul 27, 2002 |
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Industry & Economy
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Pharmaceuticals `Rs 10 cr needed for drug discoveries' Our Bureau
Dr K. Kasturirangan, ISRO chief and Chairman, IIT Board of Governors, and Dr K. Anji Reddy, Chairman, Reddy's group of companies, at the 39th convocation of IIT Madras on Friday.
CHENNAI, July 26 INDIAN pharma companies have the capability of carrying out new drug discoveries at an annual expenditure of Rs 10 crore, according to Dr K. Anji Reddy, Chairman, Dr Reddy's group. Addressing the convocation ceremony at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) here today, Dr Reddy said many believed the India pharma industry did not have the wherewithal to undertake drug discovery research, since it could cost a Western company between $500 million to $800 million to develop a marketable product from a bench idea. However, according to him, Indian companies could carry out the activities with a Rs 10-crore annual budget. At least a dozen pharma companies in the country can generate that kind of budget for drug discovery. He said Dr Reddy's Research Foundation, which was started in 1993, had been able to develop and license three new molecules to Novo Norsdisk and Novartis. Other Indian companies had also discovered new drugs. "Should this trend continue, the Indian pharma industry has a chance to make it big with molecules enjoying product patent and marketed internationally," he added. With the sequencing of the human genome having completed, scientists in life sciences were now presented with a vast body of new knowledge for discovering new targets and mechanism for drugs. "For the first time in the evolution of pharma industry, we have the science and the tools that make it possible to design and develop disease-specific drugs and even customised medicines," he said. According to Dr Reddy, application of modern biotechnology facilitates development of diagnostics, therapeutic proteins, drug targets and even gene therapy. This could revolutionise the management of human health care. After the information technology wave, young men and women would find research in the pharmaceutical sector an attractive proposition. They should seize the opportunity to not only create wealth, but also serve the social cause by providing medicines at affordable prices.
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