Institutional research and development in India is moving at a quicker pace because of the support of the private partnerships that have come up in last two years. Although the government of India through the ICMR, DBT and the CSIR have come forward with grants for enhancing the research in the country, it has been the experience of leading medical research institutes that it is the pharma/biotech industry or philanthropists that have supported the research in the country to a great extent.
At the International Biotechnology conference 'Indian Biotechnology –Building a global business' here today on the second day of the Bangalore Bio 2003 held here at the JN Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science where the first session featured 'Showcasing Institutional R&D', the panel of speakers delved on the support from the industry for the advanced research programmes.
Hyderabad's LV Prasad Eye Institute, is all set to interface its clinical tests and diagnostic research with a tie-up with Bangalore based XCyton Diagnostics, a kit production major and the Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB) for the development of a reversible chip to avoid repetition in the clinical tests it ahs been conducting tests in ophthalmology. To prove another point about the private sector assistance in research programmes, Prof. Balasubramaniam, head, LV Prasad Eye Institute said that Dr. Reddys sponsored their genetic lab and two other philanthropists supported them completely to start the immunology laboratory and the stem cell lab.
“Although we have received ample grant from the government of India, we are of the view that the assistance from the private sector has given the much needed fillip to the research programmes,” informed Prof. Balasubramaniam.
The government of India's New Millennium Initiative in Technology for the eye and vision programme will now allow the LV Prasad Eye Institute to focus on the area of molecular genetics and the diagnostics of ocular infection which is affecting a large percentage of population in the tropical and agrarian countries.
Dr. Sudhir Krishna, principal investigator, Molecular Oncology Group, National Centre for Biological Sciences said that NCBS was looking at the option of introducing MD and PhD programmes for medical doctors to bridge the gap in medical science research. “NCBS scientists do research on model organisms in biology and have arrived at a fact that the there is a lot of future in the zebra fish genetics pharma and biotech industry can could find ways to commercialise.
Dr.Samir Brahmachari, head, Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology said that investments in biotechnology was like investing in a child's education where the returns were long. But in the business of biotechnology, education was doing better than the bioinformatics industry. There is a need for a constant network among the industry, research and educational institutions to develop the 'mind for the market place'. “Our institute is open for partnerships in the applications of genomics, he said.
Dr. Lalit Bhardwaj, head, Centre for Scientific Instrumentation said that the ideal situation was the close interaction with the industry and the research centres which led to several innovative research programmes.