Aiming to produce at least half a dozen new medicines and diagnostic equipment in the next five years, the Centre on Friday launched the $250-million National Biopharma Mission.
Union Science Minister Harsh Vardhan said the Rs 1500-crore mission, supported by World Bank, “would help deliver 6-10 new products in the next five years, create several dedicated facilities and hundreds of jobs.”
The mission, which had obtained the Cabinet’s nod, would receive $12 million from the World Bank, while the Department of Biotechnology will invest the remaining sum.
India right now has a meagre 2.8 % market share in global bio-pharmaceutical – candidate drugs or vaccines developed through biotechnology market. The mission would aim to increase that share to 5% that would result in additional business opportunity of $16 billion.
“The gap in the industry is intellectual and infrastructural, which we are trying to address in this mission. The call for proposals may be sent in two months,” said DBT secretary K Vijayraghavan. In a first, the mission would see equal academia-industry participation.
