Accelerating Biopharmaceutical development: Dr Harsh Vardhan informs parliament about National Biopharma Mission

Delhi: Through a written reply in the Lok Sabha Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science & Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences informed the parliament about NBM -- an industry-Academia Collaborative Mission for accelerating biopharmaceutical development

The National Biopharma Mission (NBM) is an industry-Academia Collaborative Mission for accelerating biopharmaceutical development in the country. Under this Mission, the Government has launched Innovate in India (i3) programme to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector. The mission will be implemented by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). The mission was approved in 2017 at a total cost of Rs 1500 crore and is 50% co-funded by World Bank loan. It is managed through a dedicated Program Management Unit (PMU) at BIRAC.

Together with National and International experts, the most promising projects are selected in response to open Request for Applications issued by the PMU. The oversight of the mission activities is provided by the inter-ministerial Steering Committee chaired by the Secretary-DBT. The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) provides approval and reviews the scientific progress of its components. Further downstream, domain-specific Scientific Advisory Groups (SAG), each for the activities/ product development partnerships, are responsible for providing scientific decision making and knowledge and oversight necessary for TAG.

The program is promoting entrepreneurship by supporting small and medium enterprises for indigenous product development (Novel Cell lines, indigenously developed Biologics, devices and Raw materials for Biologics manufacturing) and through establishment of shared facilities and Technology Transfer Offices.

Innovation is being promoted in India for inclusiveness. This scientifically driven enterprise aims at developing an ecosystem for affordable product development and is focused on the following 4 verticals:

Development of product leads for Vaccines, Biosimilars and Medical Devices that are relevant to the public health need by focussing on managed partnerships.

Presently the mission is supporting the development of candidate vaccines for Cholera, Influenza, Dengue, Chikungunya and Pneumococcal disease; Biosimilar products for Diabetes, Psoriasis, emergency situations & Oncology and 08 products for the development of MedTech Devices for Imaging, Pumps for dialysis, MRI and Molecular Biology devices.

Upgradation of shared infrastructure facilities and establishing them as centres of product discovery/discovery validations and manufacturing.

Support is being extended by the Mission for establishing shared facilities. 15 facilities have been funded for - Biopharmaceuticals development (7), MedTech device development (6) and Vaccine Development (2).

Develop human capital by providing specific training to address the critical skills gap among the nascent biotech companies across the product development value chain in areas such as Product development, intellectual property registration, technology transfer and regulatory standards.

Technology Transfer Offices: To help enhance industry-academia inter-linkages and provide increased opportunities for academia, innovators and entrepreneurs to translate knowledge into products and technologies, 5 Technology Transfer Offices are being considered for funding under NBM.