India for fivefold biotech expansion

By agencies   |   Tuesday, 21 June 2005, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India plans to expand its biotechnology sector by fivefold over the next five years as part of an ambitious strategy outlined at BIO 2005, the world's largest biotech conference. Steps under consideration range from new financial incentives for scientific entrepreneurs to industry-friendly regulations for testing drugs on animals and people. Kapil Sibal, India's science minister, launched the government's strategy - intended to make India as successful in the life sciences as it has been in software and information technology. It will require substantial investment by foreign companies attracted by India's skilled scientific workforce and lower costs than in the west. Gautam Thapar, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry biotechnology committee, said the plan showed the government was listening to industry and working with it, rather than at cross purposes as so often in the past. The policy will introduce new tax incentives and grants for entrepreneurs starting or expanding biotech companies. The government's Department of Biotechnology aims to create and support at least 10 biotech parks with incubator units by 2010. These will be promoted by a new Biotechnology Parks Society of India modeled on the Software Technology Parks of India, which did a lot to smooth the path of foreign IT companies to the country. On the regulatory front, a crucial change in policy will allow companies for the first time to test drugs on "large animals" such as dogs. Indian authorities have restricted animal testing to rodents - a serious handicap, given that most regulatory authorities such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration require new drugs to be tested for toxic effects on at least one non-rodent species. The revenues of India's biotechnology sector grew by 37 percent to $1.1 billion in 2004-05.

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