The expert committee set up by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to identify the eligible R&D proposals to be funded through the Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Support Fund (PRDSF) Programme has recommended the establishment of two national facilities at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Chandigarh and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

While the recommendation is for a facility on safety pharmacology at NIPER, it is biosafety level 3 testing facility that has been cleared for IISc. DST would support both the projects through its PRDSF.

The committee meeting which took place in the last week of November also decided to recommend financial assistance to two collaborative projects. This includes a second round funding proposal for a collaborative R&D project between National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and FDC, Mumbai.

Earlier DST has funded a three-year collaborative project between the two organisations, where screening of new anti-fungal agents was carried out in a successful manner. In the second stage, NCL-FDC scientists would try to scale up the production of NCEs for drug development.

The other collaborative project between Chennai-based Rama Chandra Medical College and Research Centre and Arvind Remedies has been approved by the expert committee. The researchers of Rama Chandra Medical College would attempt to scientifically validate the proprietary ayurvedic medicine for rheumatoid arthritis.

The expert committee, headed by Dr C M Gupta, director, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, also recommended an industrial loan to Shanta Biotechnics for research in cancer related areas.