Ways to reduce barriers to Indo-US high-tech trade will top the agenda of the two-day meeting of the High Technology Cooperation Group to be held in New Delhi next week.
Pointing at the value arbitrage in drug discovery that India offered, the government has invited the United States companies to forge partnerships with domestic biotech firms for research and development.
This apart, to further increase capacities, Bharat Biotech has partnered with Indian Immunologicals (IIL) to manufacture the drug substance for Covaxin. The technology transfer process is underway and IIL has the 'capabilities and expertise' to manufacture the inactivated viral vaccines at commercial scale.
Amidst controversy on the issue of import of genetically modified foods, an inter-ministerial meeting is being held on Wednesday to discuss the policy on GM foods and crop, including their import.\n\n\n\n
Tamil Nadu Governor P S Ramamohan Rao today disagreed with the contention that the Indian industries were slowly perishing due to globalisation and entry of multi-national companies.
The Centre has also contacted five domestic and three multinational vaccine makers to understand how soon a candidate vaccine against Covid-19 will be ready.
While virologists say theoretically the vaccine that works on Delta should work on the Delta Plus variant as well, more research is needed.
Shahid Jameel, recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, also said that the country had already reached community transmission a long time ago.
Bhargava is a pioneer in the field of biotechnology in the country.
Scientists associated with Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), the government panel that conducts research on different variants of the coronavirus, said they were surprised at noted virologist Shahid Jameel's decision to quit the group and wondered whether he was disillusioned with the government's handling of the pandemic.
As states grapple with a shortage of coronavirus vaccines, the Centre on Thursday said that over two billion doses will be made available in the country in five months between August and December, enough to vaccinate the entire population.
The decision was taken by an inter-ministerial Board of Approval.
India's first mRNA platform-based vaccine will remain stable at 2-8 degrees Celsius while Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine needs minus 70 degrees Celsius and Moderna vaccine can remain stable for six months at minus 20 degrees Celsius, reports Sohini Das.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a new job creation scheme by giving subsidy to those establishments that make new hires. The subsidy would be to cover for retirement fund contributions by employees as well as employers for two years, she said. Employees contribution (12 per cent of wages) and employer's contribution (12 per cent of wages) totalling 24 per cent of wages would be given to establishments for two years, she said. Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, every Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)-registered establishment taking new employees would get this subsidy.
Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said healthcare workers and frontline workers need not register themselves as their database has been populated on to the Co-WIN vaccine delivery management system in a bulk manner.
Can Interferon alfa-2b treat COVID-19 effectively?
Over the last four days, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech have applied to the Drugs Controller General of India seeking emergency use authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccines.
The UP government is also planning to free up its own land from illegal encroachment to set up these new cow- shelters in "safe locations" and with full facility for fodder and water.
By 2022, there is a plan to make an mRNA-technology vaccine, for which it has tied up with Canadian firm Providence Therapeutics.
Think beyond engineering and medicine.
Vardhan stated the government is taking full precautions in human trials of vaccines and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 under the chairmanship of Dr V K Paul, member-health, NITI Aayog, is drawing up a detailed strategy on how to immunize the majority of the population.
Low rain coupled with the fact that maize prices in the open market have surged from around Rs 15-16 a kg to almost Rs 25 this year have forced farmers to turn to this crop.
Efforts by Indian activists to challenge the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill, now pending in Parliament, may get a boost from a controversy that has broken out in the US
"Also, 35 per cent deaths were recorded in the age group of 45-60 years, 10 per cent in the age group of 26-44 years and one per cent each in the age group of 18-25 years and below 17 years," the health secy said.
Her appointment as World Health Organisation's deputy director offers an opportunity to push for improving the medical research environment in India.
JNU students staged a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar demanding expedited efforts to trace the student. A delegation of JNU students union went to submit a memorandum to the office of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung in this regard.
There were apprehensions in the SII about rival Bharat Biotech's 'indigenous' tag, opening up shortcuts for it. One senior person, who was very familiar with the sector, told me, 'The message has gone out from the very top. Somani (V G Somani -- drug controller general of India) has told me "Bharat ka karna hai".' A fascinating excerpt from Abantika Ghosh's Billions Under Lockdown: The Inside Story Of India's Fight Against COVID-19.
IIM Ahmedabad's CIIE signed a MoU with Tata Trust for founding partner for the Bharat Fund, which will provide seed funding to Indian entrepreneurs.
Meet Lysinbacillus telephonicus, Microbacterium telephonicum, Pyrenochaeta telephoni.
Indian scientists who wrote to the PM last week are not entirely rejecting GMOs but instead asking for caution and further testing to establish their safety.
For the first time the government is organising an event where consolidated efforts would be made to help start-ups.
China granted bio-safety certificates in 2009 to two pest-resistant GM rice varieties and one type of corn, the first country to allow field trials of GM staple foods.
Sectors throw up a wishlist for the Finance Minister.
'Defence funding is channelled to State-owned research organisations where scientists are merely bureaucrats holding meetings and sending out minutes of meetings and press releases, but have long ago stopped any innovative work.' 'Unless this tragedy is fixed, India's chances to create world-conquering and job-creating new industries are slim,' says Ajit Balakrishnan.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
The board would take a decision on these applications on February 20.
Women are great team players and collaborators, 'but they don't put themselves forward,' Dr Gagandeep Kang, the first Indian woman scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, tells Veenu Sandhu.
In India, thousands of lives are lost every year because of unavailability of organs
