The Government of Andhra Pradesh, in its Vision 2020, has identified Biotechnology as one of the growth engines for the state and has undertaken rapid strides to develop the sector. While it invites the private sector to promote the sector, it would act as a catalyst and make available worldclass infrastructure to the biotech firms and assist them in all possible ways. Thus the role of the state will be one of facilitator and coordinator. With major entrepreneurs setting up plants and R&D units in Hyderabad, the city has already emerged as the destination of first choice for corporates and multinationals desiring to enter the exciting world of Biotech. Vision without action is a mere dream; action without vision is a mere wastage of time. But vision with action is a powerful empowerment. While the Biotechnology policy is the vision of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, it is B P Acharya, Secretary, Industry and Commerce, Government of Andhra Pradesh, who is in-charge of converting that vision into a reality. He is also the member-secretary of the high-level advisory committee on biotech in the state. Acharya spoke to P N V Nair of Pharmabiz.com on the progress made in the implementation of several projects to make Hyderabad a Knowledge Corridor under the Biotech policy. Acharya said the Santiago Super Computer Center of the US would collaborate in research and training in Bioinformatics at Hyderabad University. The Sun Micro Systems, the largest computer hardware centre in the US, would also set up a Centre for Excellence in Hyderabad. Following are excerpts from the interview:

One year after the announcement of the Biotechnology policy, what are the achievements?

After the announcement of the policy in May 2001, we have laid the foundation stone for a Biotech Park and the Genome Valley. The Biotech Park at Turkapalli village in Shamirpet, adjacent to the ICICI Knowledge Park, on 150 acres of government land, is a joint venture project with a private promoter, the Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji Pvt. Ltd. The promoter will contribute to the equity of the project and will be responsible for designing, financing, constructing, marketing and maintaining the Park. The first phase of the Park will be completed by March 2003. For the second phase of the Park, the government has allotted 190 acres.

The Biotech Park will enter into an agreement with the ICICI Knowledge Park for the sharing of infrastructure and the two Parks together will provide "idea to commercialisation" services to the clients. In the first phase, the focus will be on therapeutics, diagnostics and industrial biotech. A 25-km radius area has been declared pollution free and no polluting units will be allowed there. Similar parks will be set in different parts of the state.

The Genome Valley, covering an area of 650 km will provide not only high quality infrastructure such as superior telecommunications, uninterrupted power supply, a well-developed road network and assured water supply, but also specialised facilities and services such as training and research institutes, bioinformatics centres and input suppliers. The Genome Valley will become the largest biotech cluster in South Asia.

What are the thrust areas of biotech in the state?

Based on industry analysis and inputs from experts, the following focus areas have been identified - diagnostics, therapeutics, pharmacogenomics, bioinformatics, agriculture, industrial, marine and forest and environment biotechnologies and aqua culture. While a 1,000-km coast line has been earmarked for aqua culture, the government has announced plans for setting up a Pharma City near Visakhapatnam.

Do you think the pace of growth of the projects is good enough to catch up with the Vision 2020?

There is a tremendous progress. While there is a good demand for space in the Biotech Park, which is still under development, all the 10 labs in the first phase of the ICICI Knowledge Park have been occupied. The second module consisting of 15 labs will be ready for occupation in August. Already four or five labs have been booked. There will be seven more such modules in the Knowledge Park.

What are the other projects to give leverage to the biotech parks?

While we have already set up a Cell at the Knowledge Park on the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), we have cleared the setting up of Incubators in the Biotech Park. The state government has moved the Centre for setting up a National Resource Centre which will provide common facilities to the biotech companies and also the Incubators. The government will also facilitate and support the setting up of specialised animal house facilities for laboratory experimentation, breeding of experimental animal models and the development of genetically manipulated / modified animal models in the Biotech Park.

Some prominent players in the industry complain against the government''s interference and consequent delays in approvals. Do you agree?

The government is setting up an administrative mechanism of "Single Window" to facilitate quick clearances / approvals under the various statutes and regulations of the state government and the Government of India for the park users. The government will ensure that the procedures for getting approvals and clearances for the commercialisation of the new biotech products are simplified, if necessary, by taking up the issue with the departments concerned. We will also seek the simplification of rules regarding the use of laboratory animals for pre-clinical trials.

One of the major hurdles for investment in R&D is non-availability of Venture Capital funds. How do you propose to overcome this?

Realising the difficulties in funding R&D projects, the government has set up the APIDC Venture Capital, a joint venture between the AP Industrial Development Corpn and Dynam Venture East of USA, which has been providing venture capital to biotech start-ups. Besides there are several other venture capital funds operating in the state like the ICICI Venture, IL&FC Venture Corporation, Morgan Stanley and the funds set up by Indian financial institutions and leading banks.

To promote biotech activities the government plans to set up a Biotech Development Fund with an initial Corpus of Rs 90 crore. Keeping in view the special difficulties and risks involved, the government has fixed a nominal sales tax of 1% for the products manufactured in the Biotech Parks. This will be applicable for seven years. There are several other incentives in allotment of land, exemption from power cut and liberalisation of labour laws.

It was reported that several international institutions had shown interest setting up facilities in Hyderabad. What is the progress on this front?

Besides the Santiago Super Computer Center and the Sun Micro Systems which would set up centres of Bioinformatics in the city, the pharma firm Mosanto would set up a Rs 5 crore R&D centre in the Biotech Park. A MoU had been signed with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center for technical cooperation.

Several other companies from Germany and Japan, including Toyota, are in the process of finalising their projects.

Indian scientists have played a key role in knowledge driven industries the world over. Yet the vast potential of India''s trained manpower remains untapped. Small wonder then that companies around the world are looking to India, especially Andhra Pradesh, as a preferred source for the knowledge worker.