RGCB will emerge as major growth centre: Harsh Vardhan

Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan has expressed confidence that the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) here will emerge as a major growth centre in the biotech and bio-pharma sectors.
The minister, who was recently in Kerala for three days, posted a message on his Facebook account saying RGCB would offer state-of-the art 'test and prove' platforms to investors in these sectors.
These platforms will be used to carry out pre-clinical, analytical, toxicological and biological assays to validate biotech or biological products.
RGCB is planning to build clusters of growth centres which would be home to "international societies of scientists" linked to biotechnology, he said. Backed by the government's liberal FDI policy, this plan is a "winner", he added.

Vardhan had last week dedicated to the nation Phase-I of the Bio-Innovation Centre of the RGCB in Thiruvananthapuram, which has been conceptualised as a unique knowledge centre and high-level hub in biotechnology.