"We will project a unified image of Indian biotech industry"

-Dr MK Bhan, secretary, DBT

What are your expectations from BIO Boston and how do you think India could benefit from the event?

The Indian biotech industry holds a strong position in the Asia-Pacific region and constitutes around 2 percent of the global biotechnology market. The world has woken up to the fact that India is a country that cannot be ignored while plotting the landscape of the biotechnology industry of the future.

BIO being the largest gathering of the global biotech fraternity, it is a platform to learn the latest know-how in the global industry and also to showcase the strength of the Indian biotech industry. It also provides unique networking and partnership opportunities for us to forge R&D collaborations and business development with other countries.

What will be India's strategy at the event?

In BIO 2007, India's objective is to showcase the strength of the Indian biotech industry by providing a platform to the Indian companies to showcase their products and technologies. It will also provide opportunities for forging new partnerships and networking with the global biotech community.

With this view, several steps have been initiated:

Biotech mission to the US (May 3-6, 2007): Mission members include government officials and industry leaders. A number of meetings have been scheduled with leading research institutions and industry in and around Boston.

Exhibition: In BIO 2007, the India Pavilion is spread on massive area of 4400 sft at a very prime location. This would be the largest ever pavilion of India at the BIO. The Pavilion has participation from both the government and industry.

International seminars: Two international seminars on "Indian Agri Biotechnology: The Growth Potential" and "India: Leveraging opportunities in Biotechnology" have been organized. Both the seminars have eminent speakers from the Indian government and industry.

Networking opportunities: A seminar on "Indo-US Business opportunities: Biotechnology" is scheduled on May 4, 2007. The Indian biotech industry is growing at the rate of 37 percent and constitutes 2 percent of the global industry. The US is the largest market and world's leading biotechnology companies are located in Boston. There are immense opportunities that could be explored between the US and India for further development of biotechnology.

In what way do you think BIO 2007 will be different from the previous BIO events?

As mentioned earlier, the India Pavilion at BIO 2007 is located at a prime location and spread in area of 4,400 sft. This is the biggest pavilion India ever had in BIO. The India pavilion has participation from not only the industry but also the state governments. This will project a unified image of the Indian biotech industry. To provide the networking and partnership opportunities to Indian companies, we are organizing the mission and various international seminars.

US, India biotech leaders to hold summit at Boston

A galaxy of leaders from the US biotech industry and venture capital segment will interact with the Indian biotech delegation at BIO Boston. The USA-India Chamber of Commerce has put together an exciting evening to bring face-to-face the industry leaders to take the Destination India story in biotech forward.

Among the leading participants at the May 7 evening function at Boston's Omni Park Hotel  are Dr Helmut M Schühsler, managing partner at TVM Capital, John Littlechild, managing director at Healthcare Ventures, George Bickerstaff, managing director at CRT Capital Group, Ed Mascioli, executive partner at MPM Capital, Stephen Knight, managing partner, Fidelity Biosciences, David U'Prichard, Partner at Care Capital. Prominent biotech company participants are Dr Alan Smith, chief scientific officer at Genzyme, Dr Peter Muller, chief scientific officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Dr Francis Cuss, senior vice president, Pharmaceutical Research Institute- Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbie Celniker, head of the program office at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.

Union minister for S&T, Kapil Sibal, DBT chief MK Bhan and Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw will participate as speakers. The US assistant secretary of commerce, Isreal Hernandez will be the most prominent US government delegate at the interactive session.

India's trade and commerce minister, Kamal Nath said, “ The US-India Biotech Summit can further help in creating Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in biotechnology in the country. We seek to increasingly co-operate with the US in this area and exploit the synergy that exists in this field. The confidence of foreign investors in India is reflected in the highest ever inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the last two years. We are seeking investment into India because we believe investment to be a key factor in our economic transformation. USA-India Chamber of Commerce has played a significant contribution in the development of business ties between India and the US.�

Why is Indian biotech hot? Reasoned James C Mullen, chairman, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and CEO and Biogen Idec: “In India, the biotechnology industry has made important strides. The Indian biotech industry today comprises over 280 companies. India enjoys several benefits as a center for biotechnology including a large, well-educated base of professionals, ranging from biologists and geneticists to medical practitioners and statisticians. The country also includes diverse disease populations for clinical trials and drug development. Finally, India's unique and diverse plant, animal and microbial bio-diversity provides exciting research opportunities.

This summit is part of an ongoing dialogue, said Karun Rishi, president of the USA-India Chamber of Commerce. The summit will have two panel discussions. One on discovery, development, IP & regulatory issues and the second on investment opportunities, crossborder investment and M&A trends in the life sciences industry.

ABLE to push for investments in biotech

The Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), the apex Indian biotech association, has partnered with CII for BIO Boston 2007 and played a major role in planning and promoting the India Pavilion and Mission for the event. ABLE, with about 20 of its members, would be participating in the India mission.

ABLE has also partnered with USAIC (USA-India Chambers of Commerce) to promote the India-US biotech summit, which is a high powered networking session intended to accelerate the trade and investments between the US and India. ABLE members attending this summit will leverage this platform to interact with delegates from many leading US biotech and investment companies.

The summit will have two panel discussions. One on discovery, development, IP and regulatory issues and the second on investment opportunities, cross border investment and M&A trends in the life sciences industry. Kapil Sibal, the union minister of science and technology, and Dr MK Bhan, secretary, DBT, are expected to be keynote speakers. Senior partners of prominent life sciences companies, venture funds, and academic institutes will be participating in the summit.

"Many of our member companies are ready to license their technologies and partner with the big pharma companies. Indian companies are also actively looking for acquisitions, mergers and tie-ups. We therefore plan to promote both inward and outward investments at this forum," said Nandita Chandavarkar, director, operations, ABLE.

BIO being one of the largest platforms to network with biotech and allied companies across all geographies, ABLE plans to promote two of its forthcoming flagship biotech events-BIOINVEST 2007, which will be held on November 1-2, 2007 in Mumbai, and BIOPARTNERING 2008, which will be held in Hyderabad in January 2008.

ABLE will also enter into a strategic tie-up with BIO to work closely in the Asia region.

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