Clinical trials in India present a great opportunity: Expert

Japan has already emphasized on the necessity of more clinical research which is being done by foreign companies. In India there have been some commendable work done on this front and Rota Vaccine is a great accomplishment on those lines. Jayarama Emani | The Dollar Business Sponsored by Thailand and co-sponsored by the United Kingdom, BioAsia 2015 scheduled from February 2 to 4, 2015 under the theme of ‘New Era of Life sciences - Opportunities in Transition’ in Hyderabad is scheduled to provide an opportunity to explore business partnerships between the industry and academia. BioAsia’s conferences will cover contemporary developments in research and will assist in building technology capabilities for Life sciences & Medical sciences sector. The conference will witness more than 40 sessions by 100+ high profile speakers participating from 50+ countries. This year more than 1000 meetings are expected to happen 700+ corporate representatives attending the conference. On the inaugural day of the event (February 2, 2015), Mr. Dennis Gillings, Executive Chairman of Quintiles Inc received the prestigious FABA special award from the Minister of Industries, Government of Telangana Mr. Jupally Krishna Rao.  While receiving the award, Mr Gillings said that India has 17% of world population but the share of clinical trials is only 1.5% and hence presents a great investment opportunity because it requires heavy focus. Japan has already emphasized on the necessity of more clinical research which is being done by foreign companies. In India there have been some commendable work done on this front and Rota Vaccine is a great accomplishment on those lines. For this year’s edition, the Industry co-hosts are Dr. Reddy’s, GVK Biosciences, Hetero and Nektar Therapeutics, and the Corporate Sponsors include Aptar Pharma, LAMBDA, Glenmark, Jubilant Chemsys, Jubilant Biosys, Janssen, NATCO, Aurobindo and Bharat Biotech.  The Principal Country Partner for this edition is Thailand while the United Kingdom is an Associate Country Partner. The event has received an overwhelming response from the Government of India – Ministry of Science & Technology. BioAsia 2015 is being organized in partnership with TSIIC - Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, PWC - Price water Coopers as a Knowledge partner. The conference co-organizers are BIRAC, PHFI-Public Health Foundation of India, NIMS, TiE Hyderabad, ACRO, OPPI, IIIT Hyderabad, Indian Medical Association and Aurigene. Sneak peek of BioAsia 2015 –

1. Global Leaders @BioAsia 2015
   • Dennis Gillings – Executive Chairman, Quintiles Inc, USA
   • Stephen Doberstein, Chief Scientific Officer, Nektar Therapeutics, USA
   • Prof Mark Caulfield, Director, William Harvey research institute and Chief Scientist, Genomics England
   • Padmabushan Dr. Srinath Reddy, President, PHFI
   • Prof D Prabhakaran, Vice President, PHFI
   • Alex Butler, Managing Director, The Earth works and partners, Open Health, UK
   • Nikhil Tandon, Professor & Head, Department of Endocrinology & Metabolism, AIIMS, New Delhi
   • Sangita Reddy, Joint MD Apollo Hospitals

2. Conferences

The current edition of BioAsia will include conferences and expert sessions, CEO conclave & workshops on following topics - ‘Drug discovery and India’s innovation pipeline’, ‘Digital health and healthcare IT’, ‘Clinical research’, ‘Supply chain and logistics', ‘Rapid diagnostics’ and ‘Public Health & Access’ along with international tradeshows, networking receptions, BioAsia connect & Bio-Park visits.

3. Participation

For the first time Thailand will be the partner country for the event and will participate actively with a large delegation of life sciences and healthcare companies led by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Thailand. Thailand’s extraordinary healthcare system, more so their public healthcare delivery is globally acclaimed and one of the best. Thai companies will seek to partner with Indian counterparts on biotech, pharma, medical devices and healthcare sectors. Similarly, a number of delegates from UK will also participate in the event to strengthen the partnership with Indian life sciences companies, established through a history of strong partnership between BioAsia and UK / British Deputy High Commission in Hyderabad. Delegations / Delegates from countries like USA, Belgium, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, South Africa, China, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Russia, Algeria, Egypt, Guatemala, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mauritius, etc.

4. BioAsia Healthcare Devthon 2015 - February 2- 4, 2015

BioAsia Healthcare Devthon is a first of its kind event in the healthcare sector, where engineers/designers develop prototypes to address key healthcare challenges. The Healthcare Devthon is an initiative by BioAsia in partnership with Government of Telangana, Apollo Hospitals, Kamineni Life Sciences, LV Prasad Eye Institute, BITS Pilani, HyderabadHackers and HYSEA. The unique idea prototyping event was conducted over three weeks starting from January 10, 2015. At the end of the prototyping session, the teams presented their ideas to the jury who reviewed and selected top 7 ideas. These selected prototypes selected will be showcased during BioAsia 2015. The selected ideas will be mentored and given an opportunity to build real products with a seed fund grant of up to Rs 2 lakh from BioAsia. BioAsia 2015 is being organised by the Federation of Asian Biotech Association [FABA], Government of Telangana and the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) with the support of Government of India. Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Biotech Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)-GoI, TiE-Hyderabad, Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Indian Medical Association (IMA), FICCI – Food 360, Association of Contract Research Organizations (ACRO), Aurigene Discovery, Invest India and India Brand Equity Foundation among other organizations will be working in partnership to organize this event on a grand scale.  

This article was published on February 2, 2015.