The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has sanctioned soft loans to five companies including Ranbaxy, Cadila and Torrent Pharma for research and development projects in different areas under the Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Research Programme (DPRP) during this fiscal year so far.

With these new loans, grants and aids, the DST could thus utilize 60 per cent of its Rs 118 crore allocation in the first seven months of the current year. The Department sanctioned new loans to five companies for R&D programmes like clinical trials, discovery of new molecules and toxicology studies. Ranbaxy, Torrent Pharma, Cadila, Indegene Pharma in Hyderabad and Innova Technology in Mumbai are the beneficiaries, sources in the DST told Pharmabiz. The projects have been in the areas of diabetics, asthma and cancer among others.

The DPRP has got an allocation of Rs 118 crore for the current year against Rs 60 crore in the previous year. The allocation for soft loans has been increased from Rs 35 crore to Rs 60 crore while the grant-in-aid was hiked from Rs 25 crore to Rs 58 crore, with a view to further boost R&D activities in the country.

"We could not utilize the original allocation last year and thus it was revised at Rs 60 crore later. However, this time we are right on the course and have utilized 60 per cent of the amount already. We are getting lots of response from the industry which is getting more and more aware of the loans and assistance from the Government,'' a senior official said.

DST has sanctioned two state-of-the-art national facilities at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad. One is the Rs 100-crore National Bio-safety level 4 Containment Facility for Human Infectious Diseases and the other is Rs 23-crore for a Clinical Research Facility for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicines.

DST will give Rs 60 crore for the first project while the rest of the fund would be drawn from CSIR and other external agencies. DST has already released Rs 21.5 crore as first installment and the foundation stone for the same was laid by Union Minister for Science and Technology Kabil Sibal recently.

The CCMB scientists would do basic research on HIV, drug-resistant tuberculosis, various types of hepatitis and Japanese encephalitis. Many leading pharmaceutical companies agreed to collaborate with the CCMB scientists for development of new diagnostic methods and therapeutic vaccines and drugs. Bio-safety level-4 Facility is designed for handling microrganism that cause human diseases.

The DST also signed a collaborative anti-obesity project with Sasthra University, Thanjavur and Tulsi Ayurvedics Ltd in Uttar Pradesh. The Department has totally given grants, including second and third instalment of existing projects to 58 beneficiaries this year. The number of loans, including the five new soft loans, this year so far is 64.