CEO Conclave calls for market driven innovations

Bangalore, June 18, 2009: Leaders of the Indian Biotech Industry and CSIR discussed about the ways to gear up the Indian biotech industry to face the global challenges. In the CEO Conclave held as part of the ninth edition of Bangalore Bio, India's premier Biotechnology event organized by the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Vision Group on Biotechnology and MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications Co., industry leaded mulled over “The strategies for Indian Biotech in the new economic world order.” When 'melt-down' is the global reality in every sector, Indian biotech industry holds lot of promise to cater to the needs of food and health for the people, according to the panelists.

Mr. Ashok Kumar C Manoli - Karnataka Principal Secretary for IT&BT and Science & Technology, said “In the backdrop of global meltdown, Biotech industry should see the new opportunities and consolidation possibilities.”

Mr. Srikumar Suryanarayanan, Direct General, ABLE, said, “In order to catch up with the market and shorten lab-to-market cycle, Indian CROs should not settle for lesser standards that are normally acceptable to Indian levels. They should think of meeting the stringent standards in the world, if they really want to compete in the International markets. Coming to agri biotech, the benefits are more local and immediate. So we should take forward the success that we have seen to food crops.”

Mr. N Suresh, Editor, Biospectrum, co-chairing the panel discussion, said, “In the seventh joint survey conducted by ABLE and Biospectrum, the current trend is still pharma sector taking the lion's share of two third of the industry. Overall, the US twenty five billion dollars size by 2020 projected by Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charges) for Science & Technology and Earth Science, is very much possible to achieve going by the current trends.”

Ms. Anuradha Acharya, CEO, Oscimum Biosciences, “ We need to create value in terms of International standards. There is a need for some amount of consolidation within the Indian biotech industry to compete in the international market.”

Mr. K K Narayanan, MD, Metahelix and past president of ABLE, said, “Though the contribution of Agriculture to GDP is continuously coming down, it is still very important as two thirds of Indians depend on the sector. So, any improvement in this area will improve the living standards of millions. Still we are not allowing to bring in maximum productivity from the area under crops for various reasons or misconceptions. As the poor farmer is the one actually paying for these delays, biotech application in agro sector should be accelerated. There are three issues to be addressed on urgent basis. They are: 1. Market for agriculture is within India and several times than US or Europe. But, the environment here is not making agriculture profitable. 2. Regulatory reforms are needed for encouraging biotech crops. 3. States need to do more than center to create more value as agricultural universities work closely with state governments.

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson, Karnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology & CMD Biocon, said, “Chemical genetics market mind-set has to be changed to biological genetics mind-set, as the development path of these two are different. Emerging marketing strategy to regulated market strategy is the need of the hour, as proprietary technologies under strict regulatory regime can only enter global market. Our insulin project is an example for such intensive innovative process. Obama Administration is expected to open up bio generics market of US, which is a big opportunity for Indian biotech companies. We need to create an environment that commoditize generics very rapidly. Though there is lot of opportunity for innovation, we do not have the culture and mindset of innovation. When this is changed by incentivizing to generate patents and encouraging to monetize those patents, that's when real innovation takes place. To achieve this goal, academic courses are to be aligned with what industry actually requires.

Mr. Samir K Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR, “The investment made in the 1950s in the national chemical sector is yielding tremendous results today. That kind of investment in innovation is needed in biotech sector. Though we have many talented professionals in India, we are lacking in generating innovative ideas. When the mindset is changed, investment is not a constraint as we can cross geographical boundaries of the country for this purpose. Moving further from PPP, I propose Four Ps and Five Ps concept, which means Govt owned and privately managed innovation complexes across the country. He cited an example of an innovation solution generated by glass and ceramic institute to protect grain from pests and rats. When the mindset changes, innovation starts paying.”

Mr. Robert Lee Kilpatrick, Founder, Technology Vision Group, US, which is partner for Bio Partnering of the current edition of Bangalore Bio, said, “The biggest challenge India is facing is not the innovation, but communicating about their abilities to the other countries and getting the right partners. India has one of the best potential than any other country can offer to the world.

Mr. Jasmin Patel, MD of Fiedility Private Equity Fund, “India has long legacy of developing the chemical industry. This strength can be leveraged by biotech industry. The challenge is to transform from chemical base manufacturing to biological base manufacturing. India has great opportunity to service Indian as well as global market.”

Source : Equity Bulls

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