The Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), the apex industry association of biotech companies in India, has announced its partnership with strategic growth consulting firm Frost & Sullivan to conduct a study on 'Competitive Benchmarking of Indian Biotech Industry'.

"This is a part of ABLE's initiative to identify the growth opportunities for Indian biotech companies both globally and in India. The study aims to Benchmark Indian Biotech vis-à-vis developed and developing global biotech hubs," said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, president, ABLE.

"Frost & Sullivan will use a multi-phase approach to benchmark the Indian biotechnology industry. Phase 1 will involve mapping the capabilities of over 50 companies encompassing the breadth and spread of the Indian biotech industry. Phase 2 will involve benchmarking the Indian biotech capabilities vis-à-vis the global biotech hubs both developed and developing,' informed K Balaji, programme manager, Asia Pacific Life Science Practice, Frost & Sullivan.

"The study will map the capabilities of companies and research institutions in the three major verticals i.e. medical biotechnology, agricultural biotech and industrial biotechnology with each vertical further segmented to cover the sub-categories. It will be an effort to put together a roadmap to maximize growth of the Indian biotech industry given the state of readiness," said Nitin Deshmukh, director general, ABLE.

Biotechnology research is leading to rapid advancements in medicine, agroscience and environmental sciences. Some of these advances include biosensors that measure outcomes as diverse as environmental pollution and blood glucose levels, protein engineering, which allows for the control and measurement of proteins used in therapeutics.

"Over 200 million people worldwide have been helped by more than 90 biotechno-logy drug products and vaccines approved by the USFDA. There are more than 350 biotechnology drug products and vaccines currently undergoing clinical trials on humans and hundreds more in early development in the United States," said Balaji.

ABLE was launched during the Bangalore Bio 2003, it is envisaged as the collective face of the Indian Biotech Industry.