Department of Biotechnology is considering 12 novel research projects, initiated by leading bitechnology companies, in the country under the second round of Small Business Innovation Research Initiative funding.
The projects shortlisted for the second round of SIBRI funding include some pathbreaking technology initiatives of Bangalore-based Avesthagen, USV Limited, Bharat Serum and the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.
SBIRI was launched by the department to create a bitechnology revolution in the country, by nurturing entrepreneurship in the biotech sector.
To operate the scheme, which is a kind of public-private participation in promising research projects, a special fund has been created.
Under SBIRI, early-stage research ideas would be supported with an approved range of fund, of which 50 per cent would be grant-in-aid and the rest would be interest free loan.
In the next stage, the entrepreneur would be eligible for a soft loan at 2 per cent interest, for further product development and commercialisation. Initially, the department would disburse a total amount of around Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) under the scheme.
Sources said that for the second round of SIBRI, there were over 100 applications from companies engaged in the three main areas of biotechnology: health, marine and agriculture.
Of this, about 30 projects had been screened for the consideration of selection committee and 12 have been approved for funding, sources added.
Avesthagen, a fast emerging biotech company that operated in healthcare and agri sectors, has now a number of very promising discovery projects in its R&D pipeline.
Avesthagen, a fully integrated biotechnology and bioinformatics company, it is now focusing on the convergence between food, pharmaceuticals and clinical genomics leading to preventive personalised medicine.
Avesthagen provides solutions for global challenges in agriculture and health problems in the areas of degenerative conditions, metabolic disorders and infectious diseases.
While, USV Ltd, the Mumbai-based pharmaceuticals and biotechnology company will be receiving the SBIRI scheme for its new project to develop the country's first indigenous typhoid vaccine based on the technology developed by Indian Institute of Medical Science and DBT.
Apart from SIBRI, the department of biotechnology is also working on many other such schemes to promote biotech R&D. Recently, it had approved five 'centres of excellence' for research in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Vellore, each costing about Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million).
M K Bhan, secretary, department of biotechnology, had told Business Standard: "We have already approved five such centres at an estimated cost of Rs 125 crore (Rs 1.25 billion). The Department is currently perusing 100 more proposals and our vision is to create 50 such centres over the next five years".
This would mean an investment of Rs 1,250 crore (Rs 12.5 billion) over the next five years by DBT, a sum that Bhan is confident of provisioning for such industry research promotion programmes.
The other major programme currently proposed by the department of biotechnology is Biotechnology Industrial Research Assistance Programme.
BIRAP is a new offering from the DBT stable that would be launched by the year end where DBT would provide assistance and consultancy to SMEs on research, conducting clinical trials, regulatory issues like patent filing, technology transfer etc.
Simultaneously, DBT is also partnering with bigger companies in case the technology is path breaking, involves huge investment and risk and hence, it cannot be done with public-private partnership. These could be in the areas of NCEs for tubercolosis, malaria or ventures in stem cell, nanoscience etc.
"As an incentive, the private companies can have 51 per cent stake in the venture, exclusivity or first right of use. But these details would have to be worked out on case to case basis", explained Bhan.
