Avestha Gengraine Technologies Pvt Ltd, a discovery-based biotech company, has received Rs 2.75 crore under the New Millennium Initiative for Technology Leadership (NMITLI) grant from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), for pursuing its DHA research project. Avesthagen plans to bring the product to market by 2006.
DHA or docosahexaenoic acid is an omega-3 fatty acid shown to have beneficial nutrient properties including development of brain function in infants. It forms as an essential component of infant food formulas, and currently manufactured from marine sources like Thraustochytrids.
Current estimates peg the worldwide market for DHA between $300-400 million, with an expected overall growth of around 15 per cent in 2005. Additionally, there is new evidence that DHA supplementation can help prevent and manage conditions like Alzheimer's, arthritis, cardiovascular and neurological diseases.
Dr G Padmanabhan, former director, Indian Institute of Science, Chairman of the NMITLI monitoring committee said, "Avesthagen's DHA project is an example for a successful private-public sector partnership. This path-breaking research marks the first step towards discovery and development of commercially viable projects for the biotechnology sector in India. The scientific challenge in the project is exciting."
The in-process research project covers genetically engineering production of DHA in sunflower and yeast by transforming them with genes of the biosynthetic pathway of DHA from the marine organism Schizochytrium (SC-1). Relevant genes from SC-1 are first isolated through an elaborate process and reinserted back into yeast and sunflower. Special conditions then developed maximize the yield of DHA from the genetically modified organisms.
Avesthagen's team of senior scientists commenced work on the DHA project in 2003. The process of basic research to market launch is expected to be complete within a compressed time frame of 3 years which is expected to be in 2006. The CSIR institutional partners on the project are RRL, Jammu and NIO, Goa.