K. I. Varaprasad Reddy, managing director of Shanta Biotechnics, was presented the SBI-Pragna Puraskar-2002, on Friday evening. The award, instituted by Pragna Bharati, an association of nationalist intellectuals in the year 1996, was presented to Reddy by Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Vallabhbhai Kataria. The award includes a citation and a cheque.

Varaprasad Reddy was selected for the award for developing and marketing Shanvac-B, a recombinant Hepatitis-B vaccine, and Shanferon, a recombinant Interferon used for chronic myeloid leukemia and other cancers. The award presentation coincided with the 12th anniversary of Pragna Bharati.

Accepting the award, Varaprasad Reddy said there were several bureaucratic hurdles in the pursuit of R&D in Biotechnology. The government departments were not thinking cohesively. In fact, one department nullified the good work done by another department. Reddy asked the Union Minister to take necessary steps to remove the hurdles so that there would be better results.

Felicitating Reddy, the Union Minister lauded the efforts of Shanta Biotechnics in developing Shanvac-B and Shanferon of international standards at affordable prices. Referring to Reddy's complaint, Katharia said despite the hurdles Shanta was able to develop two important products and several other products were in the pipeline.

Katharia said cohesive effort among various departments and organisations would facilitate an effective change. “We have the talent, skilled manpower, and technology to become a developed nation by the year 2020 as envisaged by our President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. What we need is a change in work culture Lack of work culture was retarding the progress of the country. By adopting a proper work culture and working an extra hour every day, we can surely make the country a developing nation by 2020,” the Minister said.

Dr. Kakarla Subba Rao, director, NIMS, explained how the new generation vaccines and biopharmaceuticals had revolutionized healthcare. Within 10-15 years a CD or a floppy would be supplied when a newborn child was discharged from a hospital. The CD/floppy would contain the genetic and metabolic details, the child's immunity, the diseases it would develop as its grows up so that preventive measures could be taken at appropriate time.

Varaprasad Reddy was the recipient of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, Award for 2003, for developing and commercially marketing Shanferon, the recombinant Interferon to fight several cancers.