Lifesciences sector booming in TS

Hyderabad: The 20th edition of BioAsia, Asia's largest lifesciences and healthcare convention, successfully concluded on Sunday. The event was attended by 2,000 representatives from various governments, corporations, pharma & healthcare firms, and startups. All the participants, delegates and companies lauded the efforts of the Telangana government in hosting BioAsia-2023 at such a grand scale.

This is the first time the State government has taken the lead to organise the event completely by itself. Though BioAsia is the flagship initiative of the State government, the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA) has been hosting the annual event. Due to the Covid-induced restrictions, it has even conducted the event on virtual mode during the last couple of years.

Hyderabad has been leading biological production in the country with its key players like Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Shantha Biotech, Aurobindo, Hetero, Gland Pharma and Virchow Biotech.

The State government is working on establishing Biopharma Hub (B-hub), which is a first-of-its-kind Growth-Phase Center and Biopharma Scale-up Manufacturing facility in India.

During the event, Telangana Industries & Commerce Minister KT Rama Rao said, "We are also making investments in the Cell and Gene Therapy space and are working towards establishing an Institute of Curative Medicine in Hyderabad with the aim to provide affordable development and commercialization of the new age curative therapies (particularly cell and gene therapy) for disease pertinent to India."

Speaking to The Hans India, Michael Blackwell, Vice President & Managing Director – India, Medtronic, said: "We have a phenomenal partnership with the government. Over last few years, we have seen the event growing bigger and bigger. We have set up our engineering and innovation center here in 2021 with revenue of $160 million. This is our second largest research centre across the globe."

He said, "This centre employs around 900 engineers currently in the areas of software development and testing, test automation, mechanical design, analysis and hardware. We see engineering, research and innovation are fully happening at this centre. We are planning on further expansion. It will take next 3-6 months to finalise as we have just started the negotiations."

Speaking about the impact of recession on Indian market, Michael said: "India as a market is growing with bright prospects. So far, the recession in the West has no impact on this country. There is limited data on this. I see the growth here on an upward trajectory regardless to what's happening outside. The opportunities continue to grow in Hyderabad, thanks to the efforts of Telangana government."

Commenting on the success of BioAsia 2023, Aragen Lifesciences CEO Manni Kantipudi said: "Telangana government is doing a great job in hosting such global events. Even the government officials and people are really pushing Hyderabad to make it a lifesciences hub of the world. I feel happy to be a part of the Telangana lifesciences ecosystem."

Explaining the benefits of being in the State lifesciences ecosystem, Veranex Solutions Sr Vice-President Richard Murg said, "our company has presence in Hyderabad for more than 10 years. We see huge potential here and the government is committed to make the city a centre for pharma in India and across the globe. The government officials here have the ability to do everything to support us."

Hyderabad is regarded as the epicenter for drug discovery and development services in Asia. The city offers one of the best State-supported business ecosystems in the country with significant focus on life sciences. It has more than 3 million-sq ft of multi-tenanted facilities in Genome Valley, abundant supply of skilled & semi-skilled manpower, leading academic institutions and research centers.

The city has become home to the largest number of Indian and multinational Pharmaceutical Research Service Organizations offering services ranging from medicinal chemistry, discovery biology, pre-clinical, clinical, drug development and clinical trial product manufacturing. Today, almost every big pharma company and over a hundred biotechs use these CROs' services – and it is safe to say that a significant percentage of current and future NCE approvals originate in Hyderabad.