Bangalore’s biotech fair kicks off today

Bangalore’s biotech fair kicks off today

Affordable Drugs Could Be India’s Promise To The World

TIMES NEWS NETWORK


Bangalore: The ninth edition of India’s premier biotechnology event, Bangalore Bio, begins on Thursday. This year the theme is ‘Biotechnology beyond boundaries - the promise of India’. India’s Rs 12,000 crore biotech sector today stands on the threshold of becoming one the world’s biotechnology hubs, having the wherewithal to deliver affordable solutions.
As the world looks to an era of affordable drugs, Indian companies have stepped on the accelerator to ensure that they have the expertise and ability to manufacture generic drugs or bio similars and deliver these products to the market in the quickest possible time. Biocon recently launched Basalog, a long lasting basal insulin for the treatment of diabetics. Basalog is an analogue insulin, which helps maintain the optimal levels of insulin in a diabetic for a period of 24 hours. This injectable insulin can be taken by type I and II diabetic patients. The company priced the product 40% cheaper than other manufacturers. Others like Avesthagen are forging alliances with companies like VVT Technical Research Centre of Finland to conduct product-based research projects in the field of theranostics. The partnership will conduct research for developing novel functional foods that have a direct impact on preventive healthcare by targeting major lifestyle disease like diabetes, hypertension, bone related diseases, etc. And now with the Obama regime talking of affordable healthcare, it would be on the shoulders of Indian companies to help America achieve its goals.
The three-day event, being held at the Lalit Ashok, has over 100 biotech expert speakers participating, 700 conference delegates, 120 exhibitors and participation of leading countries like the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, South Africa, USA, Italy, Spain, Singapore and Japan. Participating companies include Biocon, Novozymes, Merck, Quintiles, BioRad, Mayar Biotech, Mawdsley Brooks & Co, Imperial Life Sciences, Waldner Laboratory Systems, Strand Genomics, Eppendorf India, and Waters India. Nobel Laureate Dr Richard J Roberts will deliver the inaugural keynote address. Dr Roberts was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1993. His discovery of interrupted genes transformed the model for understanding how proteins are synthesised from genes.