President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam dedicated India's first monoclonal antibody brand BioMAb EGFR manufactured by Biocon to the nation, yesterday.

BioMAb EGFR, developed with the technology transferred to Biocon from Cuban Institute of Monoclonal Antibody (CIMAB), was developed within 24 months and the drug is now awaiting its formal approval letter from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The drug is used for the treatment of head and neck cancers affecting a population of 5 percent of the 9 million cancer patients in the country.

The drug is the best in class treatment for treatment of epidermal growth factor tumours. This drug will also be effective in several other cancers that express EGFR including colorectal, pancreatic, metastic breast and non-small cell lung and brain cancers. The product is indicated for use in combination with radiation/chemotherapy with positive expression of EGFR in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck cancers. In clinical trails conducted at leading cancer centres in the country, the drug showed extensive proliferation inhibition activity in the cancers.

President Kalam congratulated the Biocon scientists for their effort in developing a cost effective drug. He also inaugurated the Biocon Park, which is India's largest biotech hub comprising of an integrated cluster of research labs and manufacturing facilities on a 90-acre expanse in Karnataka Area Industrial Board in Bommasandra Industrial Estate Phase IV in the outskirts of Bangalore. The park was built with an investment of Rs. 600 crore. It is the single largest capital investment made by Biocon in its 27 years of history. It currently employs 700 scientists and engineers. The multi product facilities cater to the cardiovascular cholesterol reduction, immunosuppressant in organ transplants, diabetes and cancer.