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Bio News Claris Lifesciences wins IDMA award
Claris Lifesciences, an Ahmedabad-based global lifesciences company, has received the IDMA (Indian Drug Manufacturers Association) Quality Excellence 2008 Award in the category of formulation units for annual turnover of more than Rs 100 crore.
This award makes Claris Lifesciences one of the few pharma companies to have won the IDMA award for the third time. It earlier won the award in 2003 and 2004. IDMA Quality Excellence Awards were instituted in 1984 for the purpose of appreciation and promotion of excellence and product quality among IDMA members awarded on a turnover basis.
Commenting on this development Sushil Handa, founder, Claris Lifesciences Ltd said, “This award recognizes our efforts to regularly adhere to high quality benchmarks set by IDMA. This award is for the people at Claris, who work diligently to deliver their best.”

Bilcare wins Chemtech Foundation's award
Bilcare Research wins Outstanding Innovation of the Year award by ChemTech Foundation for its exceptional innovation, non-clonable technology for identification, authentication and anti-counterfeiting.
Bilcare's award-winning innovation technology comprises of a unique non-clonable signature that can be seamlessly integrated into any supply chain system, providing a totally secure and reliable real time identification and authentication of any product. This system also provides a secure means for effective track-n-trace and e-pedigree of the products across the supply chain, from manufacturer to the consumer
The technology exploits the disruptive nature of nano/micro-particulate materials together with their magnetic and optics effects to provide a full-proof technology for accurate identification, authentication and track and trace of a product.

Apotex, Intas extend collaborative development
Apotex Inc. of Canada and Intas Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (IBPL) have extended their business agreement to develop a biosimilar version of pegfilgrastim, a protein that is used to treat neutropenia (a side effect of cancer chemotherapy). Neupeg, a recombinant pegylated granulocyte colony stimulating factor is already manufactured and marketed in India and other countries by IBPL. Both companies, IBPL and Apotex are eying a significant share of total Peg GCSF market in North America, which is currently estimated to be around $3.5 billion annually. This collaboration gives Apotex the rights to market the product in North America (US and Canada), Europe and selected other countries. After announcing the launch of first GSCF generic for North America in May 2008, the extension of collaboration between the two companies makes IBPL the first Indian biopharmaceutical company to announce the launch of Peg GCSF for North America and European markets.

Indo–US symposium on Cancer Nanotechnology
The three days Indo–US symposium on Cancer Nanotechnology (February 4-6, 2009) was held under the aegis of Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and hosted by Jamia Hamdard at INSA Auditorium, New Delhi. The purpose of this summit was to bring scientists, technologists and industrialists from both the partners to one platform in order to have intensive discussions about the cancer related problems in their respective countries and to explore the possibilities of collaborative research for fighting out the problems related to cancer management.
Former president of India and visionary Dr A P J Abdul Kalam graced the inaugural function of the symposium and congratulated the organizers for bringing together eminent scientists from different laboratories in the USA and India working for the common cause of fighting the burgeoning problem of cancer.
In his presidential remarks Dr G N Qazi, vice chancellor, Jamia Hamdard emphasized upon the biological perspective which should be addressed while formulating any novel nanotechnology based formulation. He also highlighted the ongoing research work at Jamia Hamdard. He particularly stressed upon the need to follow the regulatory guidelines in order to manufacture the nanoproducts as per cGMP.
The technical session on Cancer Nanotechnology: Enhancing imaging and therapy was organized as part of the symposium.

Praj inaugurates its cellulosic ethanol pilot plant
Praj Industries, the biofuels technology and solutions company, has formally inaugurated its cellulosic ethanol pilot plant at Praj Matrix – The Innovation Center, its R&D center near Pune.
The Laboratory facility at Praj Matrix was put into operation in April 2008 with the objective of promoting basic research. The first phase of the scaled up program has now been achieved with this break-through wherein the pilot plant has successfully demonstrated production of ethanol from corn cob and sugarcane bagasse under varying operating conditions. This follows proven bench scale process development for which Praj has already filed for patents.
As production of ethanol is expected to double by 2012, feedstock expansion has become a top agenda, fostering intensive R&D activities in this field. Most of the R&D has been promoted in the USA and some in Europe, mainly assisted through government grants. “We are proud to say that Praj Matrix facilities can now be counted as the best-in-class advanced biofuels research facilities across the globe. It is perhaps also the only one of its kind on this side of the hemisphere. In fact, the break-through puts us right on top of the league with advanced nations,” said Pramod Chaudhari, chairman, Praj Industries.

Emami Biotech signs MoU with Calcutta Tramways
Emami Biotech Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC), as part of which Emami will supply 250 Kiloliter of bio-diesel per month to CTC.
Buoyed by the certification from Singapore-based SGS Group for acknowledging their bio-diesel sample as among the best in the world, Emami Biotech has aggressive plans to promote this eco-friendly fuel.
The Emami Group is spearheading the process of developing Haldia in West Bengal as India's bio-diesel hub through Emami Biotech. Emami Biotech has come up with a state-of-the-art bio-diesel production facility at Haldia, set up at a cost of Rs 150 crore. The bulk of the production equipment has been supplied by Desmat Belstra, an Italian Belgian joint venture company. An additional amount of Rs 100 crore has been invested at the same facility for producing edible oil. The production residue of edible oil will be used for preparing bio-diesel.
However, Agarwal stressed the fact that Emami Biotech is presently selling bio-diesel at a lower price compared to normal diesel. He said unless the government modifies its price mechanism on selling bio-diesel, its production will become inviable.