Biotech Companies in India?

Question

Biotech Companies in India?

Answer 1

Institutes:

Institution Affiliation Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology

(Hyderabad) CSIR  

Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (Hyderabad)  

CSIR Central Drug Research Institute (Lucknow)  

CSIR Centre for Biochemical Technology (New Delhi)  

CSIR Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (Pune)  

Ministry of Information Technology Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (Kolkata)  

CSIR Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) Independent academic institution

Indian Institute of Technology (Chennai, Delhi)

Public academic institution Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai)  

Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (Lucknow)  

CSIR International Centre for Genetic Engineering & United

Nationsaffiliated Biotechnology (New Delhi) organization  

National Brain Research Centre (New Delhi)  

Department of Biotechnology National Centre for Biological Sciences (Mumbai)  

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research National Chemical Laboratory (Pune)

CSIR National Institute of Immunology (New Delhi)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++...

Hyderabad: A BT Hotbed

In addition to putting strong patent protections into effect, the

key milestones for the Indian government will include implementing

streamlined, transparent and predictable regulatory pathways. In the

private sector, startups created to copy patented biologicals will be

challenged to move into research, independently or under contract

from U.S. and European companies, and for lowcost generic producers

to make the transition to discoverybased endeavors. The Indian

pharmaceutical industry, including domestic and export sales as well

as contract services, totals about $5.5 billion, according to

McKinsey and Co. "Assuming the industry, and to a lesser extent the

government, can put in place solutions to three or four barriers, we

see it growing to about $25 billion in 10 years," said McKinsey's

Dhankar. But, he added, "we don't see that happening unless

government and industry make some fairly significant India, a nation

that has enthusiastically embraced and been transformed by

information technology, is in the midst of a biotech frenzy.

Newspapers and politicians hail "BT" as the savior for the dotbombed

IT sector, and scores of computer software firms have announced the

formation of bioinformatics spinoffs.

Hyderabad, capital of the southcentral state of Andhra Pradesh,

competes for biotech preeminence with Bangalore, the country's

cosmopolitan IT center. Bangalore, capital of Karnataka in south

India, boasts Biocon India Ltd., the first and largest biotech player

in India, the Indian Institute of Science, scores of startups

oriented to informatics and genomics, and a number of venture

companies looking to diversify from IT to the life sciences.

Hyderabad is home base for the Centre for Cellular and Molecular

Biology (CCMB), the most entrepreneurial of the country's national

laboratories, a large segment of the generic pharmaceutical industry,

startup recombinant vaccine makers Shantha Biotechnics Pvt. Ltd. and

Bharat Biotech International Ltd., and Dr. Reddy's Laboratory Ltd.

(RDY), a multinational generics manufacturer that is planning to

challenge the firstgeneration toptier biotechs with offpatent

versions of blockbuster genetically engineered proteins.

Hyderabad is also ground zero for BThype. While its scores of

biopharmaceutical companies and thousands of life sciences and

chemistry graduate students highlight the reality and promise of

Indian biotech, the city's Biotech Barber Shop, an insalu brious

lowtech establishment in the city center, exemplifies the hope that

achieving bioprosperity is simply a matter of rebranding. On the

outskirts of the clogged streets of Hyderabad and its twin city

Secunderabad, on roads that wind through fields tilled by

buffalopower and dusty villages, the state and national governments

and the private sector are trying to recreate Silicon Valley's fusion

of academic science and entrepreneurialism. The state's Genome Valley

is being carved from the badlands 40 kilometers north of the city,

where Andhra Pradesh is offering tax concessions and infrastructure

support for companies to locate in Biotechnology Park.

The first occupant is Bharat Biotech, which was established by a

group of Indian scientists living in the U.S. and led by Krishna

Ella, a molecular biologist who moved to Hyderabad from Wisconsin in

1996. ICICI, one of the country's largest investment funds, has built

a life sciences R&D incubator adjacent to the state's Biotechnology

Park. ICICI has gone to great lengths to recreate the atmosphere of a

California biotech campus at its Hyderabad Knowledge Park, equipping

it with climatecontrolled modern plugandplay labs. But there also are

contrasts with California that go well beyond the bright saris the

grounds workers wear. ICICI's self sufficiency is perhaps

unparalleled, including its own electricity substation, water and

sewage plants. - Steve Usdin

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++...

India's deal flow

Selected collaborations between Indian companies and institutions

with companies in North America and Europe since the beginning of

1998. List excludes deals to distribute drugs and diagnostics inside

India. Date Indian company/ institution

Other company Deal Oct01 Wockhardt (BSE:532300) Rhein Biotech

(NMarkt:RBO, Wockhardt is in the process of buying RBO's equity

Maastricht, the Netherlands) holding in their 1996 Wockhardt Rhein

Biopharm joint venture, which is producing a recombinant hepatitis B

vaccine, BiovacB. Jun01 Questar AlphaGene (Woburn, Mass.) The

companies will use Questar's bioinformatics technology to mine

AlphaGene's protein library. Jun01 Ranbaxy Labs (BSE:500359) Vectura

(Bath, U.K.) Ranbaxy's Ranbaxy B.V. subsidiary and Vectura will

develop an oral controlledrelease drug delivery technology using

Vectura's controlledrelease drug delivery solutions. May01 Zydus

Cadila (BSE:532321)

Onconova Therapeutics Zydus Cadila entered into a joint venture with

Onconova (Lawrenceville, N.J.) Therapeutics for collaborative

oncogenomics research, manufacturing and marketing. May01 Dr. Reddy's

Labs (NYSE:RDY; Novartis (SWX:NOVN; NVS) RDY granted NVS exclusive

worldwide development and BSE:500124) marketing rights to its DRF

4158 insulin sensitizer to treat Type II diabetes. Jan01 Zydus Cadila

(BSE:532321) Pantheco (Copenhagen, The parties will develop

antibiotic compounds based on Denmark) existing classes of antibiotic

drugs. Apr00 Tumkur Chemicals

Phytopharm (LSE:PYM, Tumkur will manufacture two PYM compounds

derived from Godmanchester, U.K.) native Indian plants, P54 and P56.

Apr00 Shantha Biotechnics Pfizer (PFE, New York, N.Y.) PFE obtained

right of first refusal to become the exclusive comarketer for any new

products developed by Shantha. Mar99 Proagro Hoechst Schering AgrEvo

AgrEvo acquired Proagro, which specializes in seed (Berlin, Germany)

breeding of rice, corn, cotton and oil seed rape, for an undisclosed

amount. Feb99 Indian Institute of Science MitoKor (San Diego, Calif.)

MitoKor will fund research at the Institute to synthesize

intermediates for use in the company's programs. MitoKor retains

exclusive rights to compounds developed in the program, and to

certain synthetic processes. Sep98 Shanta Biotechnics American

Diversified American Diversified will exclusively distribute Shanta's

(Hickory, N.C.) ShanvacB hepatitis B vaccine in South America, Asia

and Africa.