Rabo To Help Biotech Expert Strike Tie-Ups Locally

Rabo India Finance is signing a strategic agreement with Nelson Teng, chief gynaecologic oncology, department of gynaecology and obstetrics, Stanford University, in order to identify and increase collaborations in the biotechnology sector.

Weng is here to interact with industry participants and government officials to judge the potential of the biotech market in India. "India lags behind a few years compared to some other South Asian countries. This should help bring it come at par," Teng said.

Lack of funding, especially with the absence of domestic venture capitalists, the matter of intellectual property and herd mentality of investors are some of the problems that the fledgling Indian biotechnology industry is facing. Teng is to meet industry participants strong in biotech such as Shantha Biotech, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and representatives of various bodies from the pharmaceutical industry.

Rabo has also been mandated to identify a developer for the proposed biotechnology park to be set up in partnership with the Maharashtra government. The park is still to take form as only the land on the outskirts of Pune has been identified. This park would also be looking to tie up with an university strong in biotech for academia transfers.

"We expect this to start more research oriented partnerships though intellectual property rights is still an issue. We also think that this relation ship will allow us transfer technology that would help the industry to come up-to-date," Ronil Sujan, director and head, technology and Life Sciences banking, Rabo India.

Several companies are entering the field of biotechnology and related activities. Reliance Life Sciences plans to invest $25 million over the next 2 to 3 years for dedicated research in areas of cell biology research. It currently focuses on research and development in stem cells. It is keen to develop novel cell based healthcare solutions for the Indian and the global market.

Even Tata Consultancy Services has entered into a multi collaborative agreement with a Hyderabad based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics for bio-informatics.