Indian Economy News

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh called for India's extended collaboration in biotech start-ups and vaccine development with a public-private partnership for global good

India has called for extended collaboration in biotech start-ups and vaccine development with a public-private partnership for global good.

Union Minister of State Science and Technology, Minister of State Earth Sciences, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy, and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh stated that India is fast emerging as the major bio-economy of the world. In the last few years, the country has grown a lot in terms of innovation and technology.

The Minister further stated that as part of ‘Mission COVID Suraksha,’ the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in the Ministry of Science and Technology delivered four vaccines, increased the production of Covaxin, and established the necessary infrastructure for the successful development of future vaccines, making our nation pandemic ready. He also highlighted the vaccine market of India which has established itself on a global scale is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 30.5 million (Rs. 252 billion) by 2025.

He noted that on February 24, 2022, DBT signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a five-year term with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and International AIDs Vaccine Initiative Inc. (IAVI). In accordance with the terms of the MoU, the parties have agreed to work together to prevent, identify, and/or treat diseases that are of concern in India and around the world, such as HIV, tuberculosis, and emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19 and other threats to global health.

A bilateral collaboration between India and South Africa was also initiated in 2011, in which the Phase-I collaboration brought together seven isolated Centres of Research Excellence (CoRE), each of India and Africa. In the Phase-II collaboration, five new CoREs were established, with already existing eight CoREs.

Department of Biotechnology (DBT), for the last 17 years has an active collaboration with IAVI, a global non-profit scientific organization towards strengthening HIV vaccine and antibody research and product development ecosystem for affordable and accessible products.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

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