CCMB signs MoUs with 4 start-ups

Four biology start-up firms have signed up with the city-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to incubate their companies at Innovation Hub (iHUB).
The CCMB, a research establishment of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in its efforts to engage with industry and to translate its own research, had in October last year launched an Innovation Hub (iHUB@CCMB) in its medical biotechnology complex here.
After the launch of Innovation Hub, this for the first time that four biology start-up companies - Oncosimis, Virupaksha Life Sciences, Theranosis and Bioartis - have signed and exchanged a licence agreement with CCMB recently to incubate their companies at iHUB.

CCMB Director Rakesh Mishra, in a press release, said the state-of-the-art facilities at iHUB are created such that any start-up in biology could use these facilities as "plug and play" mode and at the disposal of the companies.
"The idea is that start-ups in biology need not look beyond iHUB to be successful and the facilities would immensely help the start-ups in executing their business plans in healthcare," Mishra said.
Several activities centred at iHUB are underway, including scientist-industry interaction and training programmes to produce industry-ready human resource which would specifically benefit biotech industry, he said.

Oncosimis is planning to establish their innovative processes in the production of biosimilars and is looking forward for such an opportunity to develop a novel process to prepare a number of cancer drugs, the release said.

Virupaksha Life sciences is planning to use iHUB to develop novel molecules for diabetes.
Besides, Theranosis is focused on developing novel point of care devices in cancer diagnosis, while Bioartis has plans on optimising and validating novel diagnosis methods for diseases of marine and animal origin and to develop diagnostic kits for such marine diseases, it said.
The four companies will be starting their activities very soon, the release added.