Institutes under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) henceforth will be focusing on developing new drugs for neglected diseases like malaria, polio, diabetes and tuberculosis. It has initiated a R&D programme on 'new development for parasitic diseases'.

The agency has also initiated a programme for the development and commercialisation of bioactive and traditional preparations. Under these programmes, expertise available within various laboratories of CSIR are networked and joint efforts are being undertaken to discover and develop drugs for diseases like cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes etc. A number of promising leads have been identified and are at various stages of drug discovery and development process through these programmes, sources at the CSIR said.

"Various institutes of CSIR, like CDRI, IMTECH, IIM, IGIB, IICT etc. are involved in the process of drug discovery and development. So far, CSIR has been successful in developing 12 out of 17 drugs which have been developed post independence within the country," the official said.

CSIR has also formulated a programme for 'Open Source Drug Discovery', through which development of drugs for tuberculosis is being taken up initially. The approach of this programme is web-based and would involve scientists not only from CSIR but also experts from universities, students, industry etc within and outside India. It is presumed that this approach would be helpful in reducing the cost of drug discovery and development process and ultimately help in making the drugs available at a lower cost.

CSIR is involved in developing cost effective generic drugs and standardization of herbal and ayurvedic drugs for some time now. It has engaged in development of commercially viable technologies for life saving drugs such as anti virals, anti cancer, anti bacterial, cardio-vascular, etc. Now, it is also designing and developing instrumentation for diagnostics therapeutics and life supporting system among others, he said.

Recently the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Technology has noted that diseases like malaria, polio, diabetes, tuberculosis, cancer, etc. are still rampant in the country and are taking a heavy toll of lives. "Treatment of some of these diseases are still beyond the reach of common man. The benefit of scientific research is yet to percolate down to the society. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the department should seriously make an introspection and try to address these issues on priority basis in a time bound manner," its report said.

"The commitment is yet to find a complete solution to common man's diseases, though a lot of funds and effort has been invested for the purpose. The committee therefore, recommends that research and development efforts should be intensified to find medication for these diseases at the earliest," the panel said.