The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a funding arm of the World Bank, has agreed to provide assistance to the tune of Rs 100 crores for various biotech projects in Andhra Pradesh. This was conveyed at a meeting between the representatives state government and IFC at Washington last week.

According to B P Acharya, secretary, state Industries and Commerce Department, the assurance of assistance was given by Neil Gregory, head of IFC's South Asian Department to B Gopalakrishna Reddy, minister for IT & Biotechnology.

The IFC funding will augment the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation's (APIDC) biotech venture capital fund. The funding will also be used for the development of infrastructure in the biotech park in the Genome Valley on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

APIDC has already announced plans to set up a Rs 45 crore venture capital fund to assist biotech projects in the state. The state government, which committed Rs 15 crores to the fund, has already allotted Rs 3 crore. APIDC VCL is planning to complete Rs 45 crore investments within three years and raising more funds, if necessary. Recently the government had announced the setting up Rs 90 crore venture capital funds through APIDC for the companies interested in setting up units in the Park.

The SP Biotech Park has signed a MoU with Heidelberg Technology Park, Germany for receiving technical assistance in developing the Park.

The government had a year back allotted 100 acres of land for developing the Biotech Park with Sharpoorji Pallonji as a strategic partner for the project. The Biotech Park presently has about six corporate clients, the largest of them being BE which came forward to acquire 50 acres of land for setting up a Rs 100 crore vaccine manufacturing plant. The government has plans to allot 290 acres of land to SP Group for the expansion of the park.

The park has signed a MoU with the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) for undertaking technical collaboration. Talks are also on with the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecualr Biology (CCMB) for striking similar collaborations.

The government is thinking of setting up a biotech incubation center in the Genome Valley. The Genome Valley is being developed as a potential destination for life science companies interested in R&D of new generation drugs. An Indian Institute of Life Sciences is also planned at Hyderabad University Campus in order to provide sufficient back up to biotech and pharma industries.

The Park's focus would be on areas like biopesticides, immunodiagnostics, rDNA, biofertilizers and other such related areas. The authorities are taking steps to ensure the availability of all instrumentation facilities such as DNA sequencers and protein synthesizers.