Nanotechnology, automation, instrumental integration are the buzzwords in the world of life science research today. The rapid pace in cutting-edge technological advancements has transformed research labs into a much smaller, too cosier and more than ever faster.
The mantra of the new age begins with word: speed. Although speed is the word in every walk of life, swiftness is something that has caught up tremendously with the technology driven life science research. Objective, here, goes diagonally to the conventional space time equations to a much more radical paradigm-to attain optimum results within a time frame which is as less as possible. That too with minimum space and less resources.
Moreover, the upcoming disciplines of Genomics and Proteomics and other related areas of emerging interest have already unspooled enormous data that could be infused into the life science to provide clue to certain conditions and disease mechanism, which remain unlocked hitherto.
To clarify these disease mechanisms and treatments requires research tools ranging from DNA and protein sequencing to protein localization studies and metabolic profiling. DNA micro arrays, high-end mass spectrometers, real time PCR, and novel reagent systems are leading the path of groundbreaking discoveries, says KV Venugopalan, president, Waters India, a leading player in analytical instruments market.
However, the amount of data these and other technologies generate on a daily basis is overwhelming. As a result, the importance of software and bio-informatics capabilities has been critical to the overall laboratory workflow. "Faster, smaller and cheaper" is the mantra used in designing new instrumentation for the bio-pharma market,'' he avers.
Amit Sharma, deputy general manager, Biolab, Biotechnology Division, Sartorius India Pvt Ltd too seems sharing the view, "To satisfy the quest of the scientists for better tools and equipment that allow faster and more reliable research, the lab equipment suppliers have been constantly upgrading the existing products while researching and launching new products,'' he avers.
According to KV Venugopalan, life science research has been a driving force behind analytical instrument market growth in India over the past several years, resulting in new products, applications, markets and companies.
Nevertheless, the question is how far the companies here are coping with the speed of change in the pharma-biotech sector's demand for an efficient range of equipment that maintain the highest standards of specificity, sensitivity and selectivity?
"When all these [high end] technologies combine, it accelerates the levels of sample throughput, sensitivity and resolution. This gives scientists the speed required to be productive and the sensitivity and resolution needed to be confident in today's high throughput laboratories," opined Venugopalan.
Again, if one particular firm cannot afford to meet specific requirement for a too specialised operation, they don't hesitate to go for strategic alliances to provide a complete solution. ``Strategies are giving customer complete one stop solution by having alliances among lab equipment suppliers since customer needs complete solution from one vendor. The trend in the lab equipment market is to go in for joint OEM marketing," says KJ Seshadri, marketing manager, Lab Water division, Millipore (India) Ltd.
Still, developing great products alone, explains Amit Sharma, is no longer sufficient. There is a greater thrust and demand on partnering with the prospective users in defining and developing applications to create a major differentiation at the product development stage itself. The enabling and disruptive technologies in particular require a greater level of interaction between the suppliers and the end-users, which brings focus on the manpower strategy of the organizations. Finally, the value proposition should satisfy the entire critical process chain of a lab operation, explains Amit Sharma.
Following the mandatory requirements of good laboratory practices, many companies investing large amounts to create the necessary infrastructure to meet the US and European FDA guidelines.
"GLP leads to documentation which is a as prime area and validation is the in-thing. So lab equipment market is getting upgraded with validation facilities," informs Seshadri.
The changing face of the Indian labs, according to Amit Sharma, is a direct consequence of its business potential arising from the regulated and advanced markets. Hence, the focus on GLP is far greater than before. Yet, the total commitment of managements to adopting the provisos of GLP in its entirety is still lacking, barring that in a few companies. The R&D spend is increasing but the investment in training is still looked on as a luxury. The accreditation of the labs is still seen as a major milestone whereas it should be a foundation on which a lab must start its operations. "It will still be some time before GLP becomes an inherent culture in companies," he added.
In the taxation front, the lab equipment sector is exempted from customs duty. However, many lab equipments still suffer very high import duties. What needs to be done is to bring the duty to a zero on all lab equipment and any income arising out of the lab operations of a company should be taxed. The investments should be made completely duty free. This will allow the serious labs to invest in best quality equipment and thus reduce their time-to-market which will further boost this sector, avers Amit Sharma.
- (With inputs from Nandita Vijay/Bangalore)