Most of the biotech companies are focusing on discovery-led innovation in biopharmaceuticals. The segment has been witnessing innovations in follow-on (new variants) biologics (commercial products derived from biotechnology) and vaccines with an emerging activity in discovery-led new drug development programmes.
After registering a net profit of Rs 25.1 crore in Q3FY25 and consolidated revenues growing by 7 per cent on a like-for-like basis, Siddharth Mittal, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director, Biocon, told Sohini Das/Business Standard in a virtual interaction that local manufacturing in the US is a trade off between cost and qualifying to do business there.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI), climate tech and fintech sectors will be the hot areas for venture capitalists and founders in the next year, according to the prediction by Prashanth Prakash, founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partners in India and the chairperson of Karnataka Startup Vision Group. Prakash said that about $25 billion has been invested into building Gen AI globally. But a lot of that capital has not yet come to India, opening up huge opportunities for startups in the country.
US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American scientist Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the country's top health research and funding institutions. Bhattacharya, a professor of Health Policy at Stanford University, is known for his research on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. Trump also nominated Jim O'Neill as the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services to work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Glenmark and its partners today said Crofelemer, a first-in-class (first of its kind) anti-diarrhoeal drug for HIV-associated diarrhoea, had successfully completed the third and final phase of clinical trials.
India's leading drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories is likely to announce a drug discovery research tie-up with US drug manufacturer Merck soon. Ranbaxy's ongoing research collaboration with GSK also relates to the pre-clinical trial phase of the new drug, with significant milestone payment and post-commercialisation royalty possibilities. Ranbaxy's decision to de-merge its research operations was intended at having more collaborative research programmes involving foreign firms.
NPIL had announced that it would team up with the French company to develop a drug for the epidemic about six months ago, following the spread of the disease, mainly in southern India and Maharashtra in the last two years. Currently, drugs are not available to effectively treat the disease and doctors in the country administer viral disease drugs such as paracetamol and other anti-biotics to check the infection.
Two years after India entered the product patents regime, the year 2007 saw Indian drug firms striving to shed the copycat image and become innovators with emphasis on research activities even as they resisted moves to include more medicines under price control.
The government on Thusday said it is examining a proposal for setting up a venture capital fund to promote drug discovery in India.
The patent relates to the manufacturing process for the active ingredient in Sanofi-Aventis' Allegra and Allegra-D drug products. Both Dr Reddys and Sandoz are known to be marketing these products in the US.
The joint drug-discovery project of multinational pharma firm Wyeth and GVK Biosciences will fully take off within a month's time, following the establishment of a dedicated discovery chemistry research laboratory.
India's pharma companies are moving beyond generics to set their sights on the research and development of new drugs, but the risks are many
Paul Herrling, global head of Novartis' corporate research, spoke to Business Standard about the changing concepts in R&D and Novartis' strategy.
More than 1,800 scientists, science teachers and educators have written an open letter raising concerns about the chapter on 'Theory of Biological Evolution' being dropped from the NCERT textbook for Class 10.
Without naming the entity, he said some players are at a pre-clinical stage and may reach the clinical stage by October. Responding to a question on absence of a vaccine currently and the prospects in the next few months as the lockdown eases, VijayRaghvan emphasised on aggressive rapid testing and tracking.
Rajput's manager Samuel Miranda and cook Dipesh Sawant used to collect the contraband and make `joints' (marijuana cigarettes) for the deceased actor, a NCB officer claimed.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited aims to increase the R&D spend on its three major research programmes, including the reverse cholesterol transport area, in a bid to come out with pathbreaking molecules in the next 7-10 years.
Ranbaxy Laboratories has decided to separate the two areas of research and development - drug discovery and generics/NDDS/drug development - to achieve increased focus and rigour for success.
Eleven months after RA Mashelkar retired from the leadership of India's apex research body, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the government on Monday appointed Samir K Brahmachari, director, Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi, as the new chief. Brahmachari will also head the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) as secretary.
Indian IT service providers are increasing their exposure in the healthcare and pharma segments. Multi-million dollar deals in this space by IT firms over the past three-four months only buttress this trend. Healthcare outsourcing has moved away from just undertaking medical transcription and business process outsourcing (BPO) work to core functions such as drug discovery, testing, research and development.
"It will be the team I choose to have with the approval of the board. It is really our call on how to run the business. Certainly, the growth will be higher and so will be the size and scale of the investments. You will see a lot more aggression in terms of leveraging opportunities for the next few years," says Ranbaxy CEO Malvinder Mohan Singh.
The Tatas will continue its association with Advinus Therapeutics, the drug discovery start-up company based in Bangalore, and is committed to further invest in the company, said R Gopalakrishnan, chairman of Advinus and executive director, Tata Sons
Ranbaxy board has approved the hive off of its R&D unit, with an 1:4 share swap ratio.
Creative Choice Group plans to create a world-class research centre that will leverage the lower costs in India.
You just graduated from tiny to small. Great--now learn how to grow all over again.
Suven Life Sciences Ltd has signed an agreement with US-based pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company to carryout pre-clinical research for central nervous system disorder.
Following its tie-up with Ranbaxy, pharma major GlaxoSmithKline said on Friday it was open to partnership with other Indian companies in the field of drug discovery and development, but it must be allowed to import molecules for research.
