The UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the government investment services organisation, set up at the British Deputy High Commission office, Bangalore, will focus on promoting trade and investment relation between the biopharmaceutical industry in both the countries through arranging business meetings in next couple of months.

The organisation, that helps businesses locate in the UK and grow internationally, is planning to lead a 10 member business delegation of biotech firms from the home country to India, from March 15, 2010. The delegation consisting of small and medium level biopharma companies would visit biotherapeutic firms in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore in consecutive days to understand the strengths of the Indian industry, informs an official from the UK Trade and Investment.

The effort is to give the UK firms an idea about the Indian biopharma industry, which would lead eventually to business collaborations between them for better synergy. It has already sought the support of the BioIndustry Association (BIA) and will seek similar partnership from the leading Indian biotech industry organisation, the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE).

Simultaneously, UKTI will also lead a team of six major delegates from the Indian stem cell industry to UK. The major companies from cities including Chennai and Bangalore would get adequate information about the investment opportunities, industrial conditions, funding potential and the ways to access funding through the programme.

“UKTI, in India, has its aim to support and promote bilateral trade relations between both the countries in pharma and biotech industry. For the next couple of months, we are putting an emphasis on the biotherapeutic industry,”said Priya Varadarajan, senior trade and investment adviser, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, UK Trade and Investment.

The organisation also support the UK-based companies to collaborate with Indian companies in certain areas like technology transferring and research and development projects as per the requirement of the individual companies in both the countries. The vision is to to synergise the strengths of partners to overcome weaknesses, she added.

The office is also keeping track of the requirements and strengths of the Indian industry to find need gaps. For instance, the Global Value Chain initiative is under its aegis to analyse the supply chain needs and similar requirements of Indian firms, which would be comprehended with the information collected from UK. UKTI will support the companies to find the right partner from the countries for better growth of the industry. At present, Indian lifesciences industry contributes almost one third of the national healthcare services business in UK.