Comments
India should evolve its own standards on biological medicines to become a model for the world, according to Dr Roger L. Williams, Chief Executive Officer, US Pharmacopeia.
Delivering the keynote address in the inaugural session of BioAsia 2011 — the eighth annual biotech conference of Andhra Pradesh Government — here on Tuesday, he said biological medicines/ biosimilars were achieving great significance of late.
“India has great opportunity in biological medicines. Standards for efficacy, safety and quality are critical,'' he said.
On India's strength in pharmaceuticals/ biotechnology, Mr Williams said: “About 10-20 per cent of all medicines in the US are coming from India in generics.''
Investment
The proposed USP's facility in Hyderabad would be opened shortly. USP had lined up $50 million investment in India, he added.
Dr J. Geetha Reddy, Minister for Industries, Andhra Pradesh Government, said biotech sector in the country was growing at a rapid pace. “In 2009-10, the exports stood at $3 billion showing 17 per cent increase over the year-ago period. They are expected to touch $10 billion by 2015,'' she said.
Hyderabad was a bulk drug capital of the country with 266 manufacturers from Andhra Pradesh, she said.
“Out of 160 approved FDA plans in country, 49 are from Andhra Pradesh while 300 out of 1,100 medicines marketed in the US are also from the State,'' the Minister added.
The pharma/ biotech exports from the State were at 20,000 last year with 20 per cent annual growth.
Dr Geetha Reddy also presented the Genome Valley Excellence Awards to Dr Anji Reddy, Founder-Chairman of Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, and Beijing Institute of Genomics, China on the occasion.
HIT BY BANDH
The flagship biotech event of State Government was hit by the on-going 48-hour bandh seeking separate Statehood for Telangana beginning from Tuesday.
The venue of the inaugural function and the distinguished lecture session were seen empty. For instance, only about 150 people were present in the inaugural compared with over 400-500 delegates seen every year.
“It became very difficult to come over here from Shamshabad airport today as cab-drivers were asking for abnormal charges citing the bandh,'' said a delegate who arrived from Bangalore this morning.
A senior official involved in the organising the event said: “Some delegates changed their plans in the last minute in the wake of ‘Chalo Assembly' yesterday and the two-day bandh call from Tuesday.”
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.