Experts from the biotech industry feel that private funding for early stage Indian biotech has not been encouraging and stressed that there is an urgent need to explore ways to generate interest of venture capitalists in the promising biotechnology.

This observation was made during the recent BIOINVEST 2014 event organised in Mumbai by the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), apex body of the biotech sector in India.

The event saw prominent industry experts debating and discussing on the need for investment in biotechnology sector. This year the event saw the industry stalwarts expressing a keen interest in capitalising on investor confidence, while addressing critical barriers in the biotech industry today, i.e. intellectual capital and investment trends - and provided a platform to discuss these issues further.

The event, which is an important life sciences and investment forum in the country, saw eminent industry experts, investors, venture capitalists, young and aspiring entrepreneurs discuss on key areas which will drive investor interest in India’s biotech sector in the next five years factoring in all the current constraints and some visible trends including big data and in-sourced R&D projects that may offer a solutions for the growth of the sector. The conference also witnessed discussions on skill development and education as the key pillars for the industry to grow in future.

Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya from Advinus Therapeutics shared his insights on Advinus-Takeda deal and demonstrated how leading MNCs are not averse to tie-ups with innovative Indian companies. The panel discussions focused on stimulating and inspiring industry and government representatives to think about public private partnerships (PPP) to meet the challenges of the industry. ABLE along with government agencies and others have launched several initiatives over the past years to assist in eliminating the gap between industry, academia and government, which was hampering the growth of the industry.

Speaking about the event, Dr P M Murali, president, ABLE said, that the event received a good response and provides a perfect platform for the industry to discuss and debate challenges facing the biotech and allied sectors in the country and on ways to attract investment for the growth of the sector. The Indian biotechnology industry has been growing at a healthy pace and accelerating towards the anticipated US$ 100 billion by 2025. A growth rate of 30 to 35 per cent seems to be difficult task at a time when there are a lot of fundamental issues, both at the macro and micro level.