Technology for MSMEs: Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that the National Biopharma Mission is supporting more than 150 organizations including MSMEs, startups and academia. Sharing information in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said projects have been sanctioned to 30 MSMEs to support affordable product development. “The MSMEs have also benefited from the shared facilities, clinical trial networks and technology transfer offices supported under the mission. Moreover, various trainings in product development, bioethics and regulatory aspects have been conducted under NBM where representatives from MSMEs have participated,” he added.
The National Biopharma Mission (NBM) is an industry-academia collaborative mission to boost discovery and research for early development of biopharmaceuticals called Innovate in India (i3) Empowering Biotech Entrepreneurs & Accelerating Inclusive Innovation. The mission is implemented through the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) with a mandate to develop the ecosystem for preparing India’s technological and product development capabilities in biopharmaceuticals such as vaccines and biosimilars, and medical devices and diagnostics.
The minister said that the mission is supporting 101 pan-India projects in the Biopharma sector which has provided increased employment opportunities. “These projects have engaged 1,065 manpower including 304 scientists/ researchers while the mission is also supporting the development of human capital by providing specific training to address the critical skill gap for strengthening product development,” he added.
Under the skill development programme, 46 training modules have been conducted in areas of bio-therapeutics characterization, sero-surveillance, bioethics, environment health and safety and in total around 7,000 personnel attended these trainings. Moreover, to enhance industry-academia interlinkages, provide increased opportunities for academia, innovators and entrepreneurs, and to translate knowledge into products and technologies, seven technology transfer offices are being supported.
Further, the mission is also supporting the setting up of hospital-based and field site-based 16 clinical trial networks for trials of vaccines and bio-therapeutics.