A three-day international conference on biotechnology, "Biotech Invest-2003 - global meet on strategic alliances and business opportunities," will be held in Hyderabad from January 31 to February 2, 2003. Organised jointly by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FAPCCI) and the All-India Biotech Association (AIBA), Southern Chapter, the conference will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu at Hotel Grand Kakatiya.

The conference is being sponsored by Genome Valley, the biotech hub of Andhra Pradesh, and co-sponsored by Ernst& Young. Besides the Indian companies, 26 foreign companies would take part in the conference.

Briefing press persons on the conference, Dr B S Bajaj, president, AIBA, southern chapter, the three-day deliberations would focus on investment opportunities in biotechnology, including entrepreneurship, financial options, venture capital, critical issues in product / process development, contract research and clinical trial opportunities, role of bioinformatics in drug development, policies and legislation in biotechnology and IPR issues.

Dr B S Bajaj, organising chairman, said the conference would be organized in two parts - the international conference on investment opportunities in biotechnology in the forenoon and the international interactive meet for alliances in biotechnology in the afternoon, each day.

The conference would give industrialists and scientific professionals an ideal platform to meet face-to-face, identify opportunities and exchange on the wealth of exciting new areas in the biotech sector. The focus area of collaboration will cover the following segments of biotechnology: Recombinant DNA products, including enzymes, vaccines, hormones, blood products, antimicrobials etc, therapeutic proteins, monoclonal antibodies and diagnostics, conventional biologicals, gene therapy, stem cells technology and cell therapy, bioinformatics - molecular modelling and drug design, proteomics and genomics and so on.

He said 26 companies from different countries like the US, Australia and Korea besides India, had expressed their interest in the interactive meet. These companies are in the fields of lipid-based anti-cancer patented drugs, stem cells, vitamin D analogs for drug discovery, bioinformatics, application of biotechnology research for humanitarian purposes and other human / animal health segments

Several internationally acclaimed speakers will address the session on various topics

An exclusive session on Vitamin A Analogs in Drug Development is dedicated to the late Dr Yellapragada Subba Row, who was the architect of antibiotics aureomycin, tetracycline etc.