Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan launched the ambitious BioPharma mission, a project funded by a World Bank loan, that aims to come up with at least five breakthroughs in the next five years.
The Centre has committed a sum of $250 million while the World Bank loan is of $125 million. The minister said this was perhaps the first time that the World Bank was funding money for a research and development initiative.
Harsh Vardhan said the mission would focus on areas where India has specific needs—vaccines, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. “There are three diseases for which we hope to come up with vaccines under this mission. These are Dengue, Human Pappiloma Virus and Pneumococcal infection. The HPV vaccine currently available is very expensive.''
Under the mission, the ministry will fund projects that are selected through competitive bids. Secretary, Biotechnology, K. VijayRaghavan said while the mission itself was time bound, usable results would be delivered within five years.
The minister pointed out that research was done in the past too, but in the absence of certain connectivities, the results remained patchy.
