Telangana, Johnson n Johnson sign MoU to make state TB free

Hyderabad : The Telangana government has entered into an MoU with pharma, life sciences and healthcare multinational company Johnson & Johnson to work together for making the state tuberculosis free, it was announced here.

The New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson will play an active role in the project by assisting the state government in achieving the goal.

The MoU was signed when Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao called on top leadership of the company on the second day of his business visit to the US.

Rama Rao met Paul Stoffel, Chief Scientific Officer and Chairman of Pharmaceuticals Division, Melinda Richter, Head of JLabs and Jonathan Collard, VP, Government Affairs and Policy, Asia Pacific.

Stoffel was very enthusiastic about proposed Hyderabad Pharma City, and will be visiting India and Hyderabad next year, said a statement from the minister's office here.

Richter assured the Telangana delegation that they would explore the possibility of setting up of JLabs unit in Hyderabad.

Later, the minister met Sanat Chattopadhyay, Executive VP and President, Merck Manufacturing Division, who mentioned the firm's intent for a social partnership with Telangana Government on arresting infant diarrhoea.

Merck also expressed interest in setting up manufacturing base in Telangana in collaboration with local partners. It also evinced interest in setting up "vaccine centre of excellence" in Hyderabad which will also be used for imparting skills, providing training based on the specific requirement of the companies.

Nanette Cocero, President for Emerging Markets for Innovative Health business, Pfizer and Jeffery T. Hamilton, Senior Director, Pfizer, during their discussions with Minister explained about Pfizer's ECHO project in the area of breast cancer screening.

The minister elaborated on the steps Telangana Government initiated to boost the pharma sector in Hyderabad and invited Pfizer to associate with Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH).

Another MoU was signed with IV2 Alliance, a non-profit corporation and one that works in tandem with US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to promote collaboration within the scientific, research and provider communities to achieve advances in the field of healthcare and wellness.

USFDA in a written communication stated that Pharma City near Hyderabad can be the first of the international clusters it seeks to bring together to link scientific and medical advances from across the globe for better healthcare.