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The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is expecting to start sanctioning of funds to the tune of ₹4,250 crore to select industry players and startups under the second component of its Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma MedTech (PRIP) scheme by August this year.
Pharma Secretary Amit Agrawal on Monday said that the DoP is currently in the process of taking feedback from industry stakeholders through Expressions of Interest (EoIs), and will have multiple discussions for the same.
The department had last week sought EoIs from interested entities for project funding under the PRIP scheme. “Stakeholders can respond by April 7, with the application process expected to start by May 2025,” Agrawal added.
Discussions would be held with partner ministries, the industry, venture capital (VC), and private equity (PE) stakeholders, he said.
The PRIP Scheme, launched in August 2023, aims to promote industry-academia linkage for research and development in the lifesciences segment.
Intended to run for five years from financial year 2023-24 (FY24) to FY28, the scheme has two major components — setting up Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in seven National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs), and giving grants to startups for promotion of research in pharma and medtech sectors.
Agrawal added that all seven NIPERs have established their respective CoEs in FY25, with work on 67 projects going on.
Under the second component, he said, “financial assistance will be provided to companies and startups in six priority areas — new chemical entities, complex generics and biosimilars, precision medicines, medical devices, orphan drugs, and formulations for antimicrobial resistance (AMR)”.
These companies or startups will be selected under three categories. In the first category, nine established pharma companies willing to collaborate in research with any government institute of national repute, would be selected. “This can include a maximum of three MNCs, which will have to do their trials in India,” Agrawal said.
Similarly, the second group would include 30 projects, which are at successfully validated levels, whereas the third category would include 125 projects from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups registered with DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade).
The DoP will provide financial support at the rate of 35 per cent of the total cost incurred, or ₹125 crore each to companies collaborating with government institutes, and ₹100 crore to companies moving individually. For startups, the funding will be done at ₹1 crore per project. This will be done on a milestone basis over a period of five years under benefit-sharing principle.
“The scheme will attract around ₹17,000 crore additional investment in research and development in these priority areas and intends to create a pipeline of projects,” Agrawal added.
