The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has sanctioned Rs 40 lakh for a collaborative research project between Mumbai based Food Drugs and Chemicals (FDC) Limited and National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune. The project funded through the Drugs and Pharmaceutical Research Programme (DPRP) of the department is aimed at design synthesis of new anti-fungal molecules.

DST's expenditure finance committee has cleared the project parameters and the agreement will be signed shortly. On completion of the project, the IPR arising out of the discovery will be shared between FDC and NCL. It is known that the project for new anti-fungal agents would seek new molecular structures by computer-based molecular designing. The project will be marked by design synthesis and testing of molecules as potential anti-fungal agents.

The department has also sanctioned a national facility at National Institute for Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER) recently. The National Centre for Bioavailability Research that is to come up in NIPER can be utilised for multiple purposes and the priority areas are drug delivery systems as well as drug development. The equipment cost of the facility will be born by DST. The total project cost is estimated at Rs five crore where DST shares is Rs 1.75 crore and the balance would come from the Dept of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, it is learnt. DST sources informed that the amount has already been handed over to the institution.

It has also cleared Rs 1.5 crore for a new LCMS (mass spectroscopy) facility at the National Center for Pharmacokinetics & Metabolic Studies at CDRI, Lucknow. The facility can be used for data generation for various drugs.

Of the Rs 10 crore annual outlay for DPRP, the department has already sanctioned Rs 7 crore for about half a dozen projects. With another six projects in the evaluation phase, it hopes to utilize the entire allotment within the current financial year itself.

The department has till date sanctioned 35 projects worth Rs 55 crore as part of DPRP. The DST share in it is approximately Rs 25 crore while the rest were borne by the industry. The projects also included six ones from the Ayurveda sector, meant for the standardization and validation of traditional drugs.