The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has submitted a proposal for setting up a national animal resource facility to Central Government.

"We have submitted the project a few days before and is waiting for the response. The government will forward the proposal to the planning commission and we hope that the project will be included in the 11th five year plan," Dr. N K Ganguly, Director General, ICMR told Pharmabiz. He was here to present his views in the 5th Pugwash conference on HIV/AIDS, organized Pughwash conferences on Science and World Affairs at M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation.

The council is looking for an efficient partner for the project, planned as a public-private joint venture. The council is planning abstain pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from being the project partner, in order to avoid any pressures in future, added Ganguly.

As Pharmabiz reported earlier, ICMR is planning to set up the facility with the help of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and National Centre for Laboratory Animal Sciences (NCLAS).

Earlier, in the presentation to the scientist community in Pugwash conference, he said that much importance should be given to the invention of new drug combinations, by considering the resistance pattern in the patient and the way in which the viral load is interpreted. He added that the process should be continued, as the drugs seem to fail after continuous usage for three or four years.

More sentinel centres should be commenced in the northern parts of the country, as the rate of infected population is increasing in the area. The statistics of the migrants in various parts of the country is not even near to accurate and the country needs partners with experience in research on compiling data of migrants to tackle the issue, commented Ganguly in his presentation.