www.asiabiotech.com INDIAN BIOTECH SECTOR: TAKING STOCK State Government Initiatives: Biotech Parks/Bioclusters tate governments in have recognized biotech as a key growth engine for propelling future economic development in their states. Several states have taken strong initiatives to develop S Bioclusters based on intrinsic academic and entrepreneurial strengths. Key features of these clusters are Biotech Parks, Biotech Policies, Fiscal Incentives like tax holidays, capital subsidies and energy concessions, Centers of Biotech Excellence, specific biotech development funds and Incubators etc. The following are some of the emerging Bio-clusters:

Andhra Pradesh (AP): The Biocluster The Government of AP has identified the life sciences sector as one of the “Engines of Growth” for the state. Building on an established foundation of world-class infrastructure in R&D, manufacturing, healthcare and education, the State Government has initiated India’s first biotech cluster — — a geographic concentration of R&D laboratories, medical institutions, bioscience companies and industries. An area of 600 km2 has been declared as Genome Valley, comprising the country’s first Knowledge Park (R&D), first Biotech Park (manufacturing) and first incubator facility. A state of art infrastructure has been set up in the form of ICICI Knowledge Park (KP) and Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park, on a public private partnership model. Hyderabad has emerged as a natural bio-cluster with leading institutes and laboratories like the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), both part of the CSIR network of laboratories. These, together with other renowned research institutions such as the Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, LV Prasad Eye Research Institute, ICRISAT & form the academic backbone of the bio-cluster. Companies like Shantha Biotechnics, , Indian Immunologicals, Biological E and GVK Biosciences forming the industry cluster. The presence of a large pharma industry in Hyderabad has caused this bio- cluster to focus largely on vaccines & biotherapeutics. The existing software industry has also initiated interest in bioinformatics. AP was the second state in the country to announce a “Biotech Policy” back in May 2001. The APIDC ( Industrial Development Corporation) has launched the country’s first venture capital fund for with a corpus of US$30 million as a joint venture with Dynam Venture East, US to fund start-up biotech companies. There have also been several collaborations with international institutions and bodies. The Government had an early tie-up with the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina in the US. The has tied with the Pacific Region Grid Middleware Program based in San Diego, California. This will give access to a supercomputer. Sun Microsystems will be setting up a Center of Excellence at CDFD (Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics) at an estimated cost of US$6 million. Any IP developed by the center will remain with the CDFD. More recently, there has been a signing of three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the Malaysian Government to strengthen relations between Genome Valley of Andhra Pradesh and Bio Valley of Malaysia. The

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areas of interest include trade, investment, innovation for pharma and biotech companies and commercialization. The Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park, the first of its kind in the country, has already recorded occupation in over 75% of the space in the first phase spread over 140 acres. Besides offering open plots on freehold basis and flatted factories, the park will be housing a technology incubation center and a business enterprise zone. Companies in the park enjoy certain fiscal benefits such as nominal sales tax of 1% for seven years and waiver of stamp duty and registration charges for their land and building transfers. In 1.5 year of its existence, the park has seen 17 projects taking up space. Five have already commenced operations. Already, three research-oriented companies from the US have taken up space in the first phase and more are in the offing. The total investment to be made by the companies in the first phase would be in the order of Rs 400crore (US$86.8 million) and an equivalent investment is likely in the second phase as well. Buoyed by the response of biotech companies to take up developed land at its park, Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park, located in the Genome Valley, has stepped up efforts to commission the second phase of the park, being laid out in 162 acres. The investment on this would be around Rs 12crore (US$2.6 million), nearly the same as for the first phase. It is ready to start work on the third phase for which the land procurement process is underway. The park has sought another 200 acres for the third phase. The ICICIKP is located on a 200-acre campus in Turkapally, near Hyderabad. The first phase of the project consists of 10 laboratory modules, each occupying around 3,000ft2. The second phase has achieved a 60% occupancy rate. An integrated IPR facilitating cell has been set up at ICICIKP under the auspices of AP Technology Development Center, a joint venture between CII and Government of AP and Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council. The ICICIKP, together with the Biotech Park has given AP the critical mass to emerge as a state where biotechnology companies can set up shop and flourish. Both parks are plug-and-play places, where companies can get to work quickly. The parks have uninterrupted power supply. The government is investing Rs 30crore (US$6.5 million) in a water supply project to the parks. There is a lot of interaction between industry and research organizations. ICICIKP is the place where entrepreneurs can set up their R&D facilities, while their production facilities can be set up in Biotech Park. Apart from this, the Indian Council of Medical Research is setting up an animal farm where biotech companies can conduct their tests. DBT has sanctioned Rs 20crore (US$4.3 million) to IICT for setting up the country’s first biotech incubator in Hyderabad. The initiative is being jointly undertaken by the DBT, AP Government and other science departments. The incubation fund is aimed at promoting startup companies to scale up their production and to commercialize their products. IICT would provide technical assistance and the incubator would come up on a 3-acre plot in Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park. The Government has jointly promoted an agri biotech park along with ICRISAT (a part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research). The facilities available in the park include Applied Genomics Lab, Genetic Transformation Lab, Bioinformatics & Computational Genomics facility, Intellectual Property Management Office & Technology Innovation Center (TIC). The State Government has set up India’s first marine biotech park at Parawada, Vishakhapatnam. A marine biotech complex is proposed in the park in association with Andhra University which would focus on marine resources and work towards developing vaccines to prevent diseases in shrimps and other marine organisms, apart from research on marine foods, nutraceuticals and fisheries. The Government proposes to set up The Institute of Life Sciences as a Center of Excellence to further industry- driven life science research.

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Karnataka: The Bangalore Biocluster The State Government of Karnataka has set up a Vision Group on Biotechnology as a Public-Private partnership to evolve a pragmatic Biotechnology Policy for the state. The Bangalore cluster owes its success to the presence of a large number of prestigious research institutions viz. Indian Institute of Science (IISc), National Center for Biological Resources (NCBS) & JNCASR and a diverse array of leading companies like Biocon, Astra-Zeneca, Aurigene, Strand Genomics, Avesthagen, Bangalore Genei, Metahelix, , Syngene International, xCyton and Sami Lab, spanning biotech segments such as biotherapeutics, bioinformatics, plant genetics & genomics, contract R&D, bioprocessing & bioinstrumentation. Bangalore currently houses around 92 of India’s estimated 180 biotech companies, with total actual investments of over Rs 1,000crore (US$217 million), of which Rs 140crore (US$30.4 million) has been venture capital funding. Total revenues of these units have crossed Rs 1,600crore (US$347.2 million). Bangalore Helix, a biotech cluster being planned by the Karnataka Government, would support biotech units with common infrastructure. It would comprise eight biotech incubators, covering a total area of 10,000 ft2. A Rs 50crore (US$10.6 million) biotech fund was in the pipeline to fund and incubate biotech start-ups. Helix, proposed on 60 acres, is expected to become operational in around over a year. Excluding the cost of land (around Rs 60crore or US$13 million) that has already been acquired, the cluster will involve an investment of Rs 100crore (US$21.7 million), The infrastructure support would be comprehensive, right from advance computing facilities to treated water necessary for biotech research. The R&D areas to be boosted by the fresh investments include development of new biotech molecules, recombinant proteins and vaccines, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, stem cell research, molecular chemistry etc. Maharashtra: The Pune Biocluster Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad are the three important locations for the biotech companies. The state’s strengths include its human resource, excellent private and public institutions, infrastructure, and a conducive business environment. In 2003, the state had 4,100 registered pharmaceutical manufacturers. The state has a vast infrastructure facility in the public health sector with over 120,000 patients visiting the civil hospitals on daily basis. Through nearly 1,000 institutions; it produces around 163,000 trained technical personnel each year. The state is working on setting up biotech parks at Hinjawadi near Pune and Jalna near Aurangabad. The parks will focus on facilities required for start-ups and companies, which plan to set up manufacturing facilities for their product lines. Some of the centers of excellence in the state include the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Indian Institute of Technology, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, University Department of Chemical Technology of Mumbai University, Cancer Research Institute and Kelkar’s Education Trust’s Scientific Research Center. Pune is home to Serum Institute of India — the foremost and the largest manufacturer of vaccines, sera and biologicals in India and Venkateshwara Hatcheries group — the largest producer of poultry vaccines in India. Apart from these, Pune is also home to firms like Alfa Laval India, Praj Industries, SciNova Informatics and Persistent Systems, which are major suppliers to the biotechnology industry. Aurangabad is India’s seed capital. Bio-agriculture has strengthened its roots in the state through one of the largest seed producing companies — Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), which is engaged in conducting field trials of transgenic seeds in collaboration with Monsanto. (Source: Biospectrum, India Handbook 2004)

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