Gujarat, the nation's pharma hotspot is making rapid strides on the biotechnology front with the unstinted support of the state government which is keen on improving the ecosystem and attracting more biotech companies to the state.
The Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission (GSBTM), autonomous body under the state Department of Science and Technology, is making earnest efforts to catalyse the industry to accomplish the vision of the government announced in its Biotech Policy 2007-2012.
The policy focuses on the development of research and educational infrastructure, human resource development, entrepreneurship and biotechnology business and awareness. To facilitate implementation, the state has prepared a vision document, policy recommendations and strategic roadmaps with the support of professionals and technical experts in the relevant areas.
The policy, which has been incorporated in the 11th Plan, contains the blueprint of infrastructure, research and development, education, entrepreneurship and business development for each sector.
The efforts to create industry friendly ecosystem in the state has already started showing results, as the number of pharma and healthcare related biotech firms increased from 24 in 2004-05 to 53 in 2008, according to the Status Paper 2008-09 published by the GSBTM in January 2009. At present, there are around 116 companies active in state biotechnology segment including pharma and healthcare biotech, agriculture biotech and industrial biotech.
The healthcare biotechnology in Gujarat is represented by the major companies like Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Cadila Healthcare, Concord Biotech, Sterling Biotech, Intas BioPharma, Ambalal Sarabhai Ltd, Claris Life Sciences, Quintiles Spectral, Span Diagnostics etc. The major healthcare biotech products of these companies include Penicillin-G, Vitamin - C, Insulin, Medical Diagnostic kits, immuno-suppressants, rabies vaccine, therapeutic proteins, antidiabetic and anticancer drugs. The healthcare biotech related services, offered by these companies are contract research services, bio-safety studies, process development and formulation development.
The industrial biotechnology in Gujarat is represented by major companies like Maps (India) Ltd, Anil Biochem, Americos, Aum Biochemicals, Meteoric Life sciences, Microgenix Pvt Ltd, and Yeast Alco Enzymes Ltd. The major industrial biotechnology products of these companies are sodium gluconate, calcium gluconate, alpha-amylase, amylo glucosidase, protease, xylanase and cellulose.
The sector is poised for a higher rate of growth as many companies in chemical manufacturing are diversifying activities into biotech field. The existing biotech units in Gujarat have undertaken an expansion of more than Rs300 crore in last two years and another Rs1200 crore expansion projects are expected to complete within next two years informs the status paper.
Further, almost 27 companies had signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with the state government in the Vibrant Gujarat 2009 - Global investors' summit - for investing around Rs 2508.5 crore in 31 projects. Around 20 out of these agreements are in the pharma and healthcare biotechnology and bioinformatics, according to GSBTM officials.
The state has adopted a strategy of facilitating development of competitive infrastructure base for growth and improvement of biotechnology products and processes, in the form of biotech clusters, biotech zones, biotechnology parks and sector specific facilities.
The flagship project of the GSBTM, development of a biotech park at Savli, Vadodara under Public Private Partnership (PPP), is envisaged to attract more companies into the state and is expected to boost the performance of biotechnology sector in the near future.
Biotech Park, which aims to provide necessary infrastructure support to biotechnology industries, will be completed in three phases, in an area of 700 acres. The Rs 2000 crore Biotech Park is developed by the Gujarat Akruti-TCG Biotech Ltd (GATB Ltd), a joint venture company of GSBTM in collaboration with the Mumbai-based Akruti City Ltd and The Chatterjee Group (TCG) Ltd. While the first phase of the park to develop 100 acre of land with an incubator centre would be developed by the mission, the second and third phases are to be completed by the private partners, as per the agreement.
As a part of the phase I operations, around 13 biotech companies have been recommended for allotment of nearly 61 acres (2, 64,000 sq mt) of land, while four more requests have been received, which are under consideration, reveals the status paper. Out of the total area developed in phase I, 36 acre of land is being developed as Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
The mission has finalised the design for a two lakh square feet lab space facility through a committee of experts from various fields of biotechnology, including the industry representatives. Plans are to float tenders for project management consultants and for construction works in a couple of months, informs Akshay Saxena, mission director, GSBTM.
The incubation centre, comprising facilities like modular wet labs, pilot plant, common equipment library, plant tissue culture facility and animal tissue culture facility apart from a green house, is one of the highlights of the park. The incubation centre included in the first phase of the project is nearing completion.
"Our mission is to catalyse the growth of biotech segment in the state through consolidating and mobilising the industry. We have also initiated programmes to attract more companies into the state. Some of the top biotech companies have shown interest in setting their operations in the state, but nothing has been finalised as of now," said Saxena.