Bring Back the Lost Talent - 'India Needs Them'

Session two of the final day of Bangalore Bio 2009, 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 was hailed as one of the “most relevant” discussions for India and its healthcare Industry by the chair person Dr. S. D. Ravetkar, Senior Director, Serum Institute of India.

The panelists for the session were the healthcare innovation stalwarts; Dr. Rajat Goyal, Country Director, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Dr. Chetan E.Chitnis, Senior Research Scientist, Malaria Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and a recipient of the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award and Dr. Albrecht Laufer, CEO, Corvay, GmbH

Dr. Rajat Goyal said, “The lack of availability of vaccines, R&D investment, regulatory responsiveness and public interest as the main reasons for the lack of novel vaccine development in India.” Heralding the “just begun” era of Vaccine development in India. Goyal added that novel vaccines save lives, improve health, develop human talent, accelerate economic growth, enhance local productivity and improves overall health. “We cannot at any cost afford brain drain. We need to bring back the talent we have lost to the world”, expressed Goyal.

Dr. Chetan E.Chitnis said, “Malaria is one of the biggest health problems in tropical countries like India with the disease causing one million deaths annually world over.” “We need vaccines to protect residents of endemic countries against malaria. We are developing recombinant vaccines against the blood stages as this helps in early detection and recovery of the patient”, Chitnis declared.

He further said, “Children were the most affected by Malaria and evidence shows that the human body automatically develops immunity against malaria with the progress of age.”

Talking about “Touchable Results” and new business models in Novel Vaccine Medical Research, Dr. Albrecht Laufer said, “The impetus has to be provided by the government by way of regulation relaxations, financial aid and research facilities.” “The results under such conditions will be more creative than under industry environments”, Laufer concluded.