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September, 2006 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India |
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Govt Plans Five New Pharma Rn;D Institutes Like NIPER
New centre to take up new drug research, including animal toxicology studies.
The government is working on a proposal to set up five new institutes for pharmaceutical education and research, on the lines of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, (NIPER) Chandigarh. The new institutes would take up new drug research, including animal toxicology studies, separately and in partnership with major pharma companies, besides creating a vast pool of skilled scientists. The plan is to set up the institutes in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hazipur (Bihar) and Guwahati.
The ministry of chemicals and fertilisers estimated that setting up of these institutes would require Plan funding to the tune of Rs 7.50mn (Rs 1.50mn per institute) during the Eleventh Plan period. Besides, each unit would require non-Plan outlays of Rs .10 mn per annum to meet operational expenses, till they can become self-sustaining.
The ministry will soon seek the Planning Commission’s nod for the proposal. Later, it would prepare detailed project reports for the consideration of the Expenditure Finance Committee and the finance ministry. A proposal would be made to the cabinet in due course.
Since NIPER was set up by a Parliamentary Act, setting up of five new institutes would require an amendment to the Act.
Considering that MNC pharma companies which undertake multi-billion dollar R&D for drug discovery pay little attention to finding newer therapies for infectious diseases, the proposed institutes would focus on R&D for anti-infectives. Pathogens causing TB, malaria etc, have become resistant to known drugs. Officials said the discovery of cancer, AIDS drugs would also an important objective of the institutes.
NIPER, Chandigarh has pilot manufacturing plants for synthetic Active Pharma Ingredients and herbals with a view to scaling up laboratory scale processes. It also does bio-equivalence and bio-availability studies of drugs and has ventured into newer areas such as genomics, proteomics, computational biology and development of tools for target-based drug discovery.
Date: 03-Aug-2006
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