FM gives mini doses of joy to biotech players

Hyderabad: The

biotech

sector had reason to cheer as the Budget had direct and indirect boosters. Be it the thrust on animal vaccines or mapping country’s genetic landscape to encourage discovery of next-generation medicines or even IPR protection and cold chain supply infrastructure, FM injected the right doses.

Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said, “The announcements related to building a genetic database for drug innovation and investing in quantum computing for advancing our analytical capabilities are critical components for leveraging technology to gain a competitive edge. The measures can give returns in the medium to long-term but we need to ensure they are implemented fast.”

Bharat Biotech CMD Krishna Ella said the big push comes from the thrust on five vaccines – including Foot and Mouth Disease, brucellosis and PPR (goat plague) eradication. The focus on cold chain infrastructure development, which plays a crucial role in ensuring efficacy of vaccines, will also have a positive impact, he said.

Lauding the announcement of two national-level science schemes to create a comprehensive database, Mapmygenome CEO Anu Acharya said that this will lead to availability of quality data for healthcare players and open doors for collaborations and innovation.

Indian Immunologicals Limited deputy MD Prasanna Deshpande said that the proposal to expand the coverage of artificial insemination to 70% from 30% will also assist in increasing livestock productivity and benefit farmers.

However, Ram Kaundinya, director general, Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII), rued the lack of structural reforms in agri-biotech sector. “While the FM said that they wanted to make the Indian farmer competitive, she did not talk about using modern science and technology in seeds...”

Kaundinya also expressed scepticism about the government’s emphasis on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) stating that it cannot take our farmers towards global competitiveness and financial security.