An amount of Rs 500 crore has been sanctioned for the Drugs and Pharmaceutical Research Programme (DPRP) during the 11th Five Year Plan and Rs 100 crore would be disbursed this fiscal year, after the programme utilised its allocation fully in the last financial year.

The Department of Science and Technology, which is administering the programme, spent Rs 118 crore during last year as soft loans to pharmaceutical companies, project support to research programmes and setting up national facilities, sources said. Since its inception, 85 industry-institutional alliances both in modern and Indian systems of medicines including veterinary drugs have been funded. In addition, 32 state-of-the art infrastructure for pharmaceutical R&D have been created in different premier institutions and Universities.

During the 10th Five-year Plan (2002-2007), the DPR programme invested Rs 217.63 crore. A plan allocation for the 11th Five-year Plan (2007-2012) of Rs.500.00 crore was given for DPRP scheme, sources said. After remaining less popular with the industry for sometime, it took off well during the last financial year, thanks to the efforts of the officials administering it. Only Rs 60 crore was spent during year of 2006-07, though it was initially allotted with Rs 100 crore. However, during the last financial year, it could utilise the allocation fully.

DST could utilise 60 per cent of its allocation in the first seven months of the previous year itself and the beneficiaries of soft loans included major companies like Ranbaxy, Cadila and Torrent Pharma for research in different areas. The state-of-the-art national facilities sanctioned included the Rs 100-crore National Bio-safety level 4 Containment Facility for Human Infectious Diseases and the Rs 23-crore for a Clinical Research Facility for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicines at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad.

The DST, which got a total allocation of Rs 1780 crore this financial year against Rs 1511 crore of the previous year, has set apart Rs 442 crore for autonomous institutions and professional bodies. Apart from the existing 24 such institutions, the DST is also planning to set up new ones including the one in the area of cancer research.

The department will be spending Rs 145 crore for research in the area of nano-science during the current year. Application of nano-coatings, nano-device based sensors and diagnostic kits, controlled and targeted drug delivery systems will be among the key areas of research identified for immediate attention.