CCEA approves mission for development of bio-pharmaceuticals

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a collaborative mission between industry and academia for accelerating research for early development of bio pharmaceuticals.

The programme entails an investment of Rs 1,500 crore by the central government over a period of five years. Half the funding will be arranged through the World Bank loan.

Besides, the 'Innovate in India empowering biotech entrepreneurs and accelerating inclusive innovation' mission will also work on establishment of shared infrastructure and facilities.

"The mission will provide a holistic and integrated approach to strengthen and support the entire product development value chain for accelerating the research leads to product development," said an official statement.

"This will help not only in immediate product development addressing public health needs, but will also help to create an ecosystem which will facilitate development of a continuous pipeline of products," it said.

The programme would focus on development of specific products such as vaccines, bio therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics.

It would also focus on building and strengthening domain specific knowledge and management skills; creating and enhancing technology transfer capabilities in public and private sector.

The Mission will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) -- a Public Sector Undertaking of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

The total project cost to be funded by central government is Rs 1,500 crore for five years,

For the implementation, a Programme Management Unit would be set up at BIRAC, which will work as an operational and functional arm that oversees and monitors program implementation and progress.

--IANS

rup/pgh/vt