National Biopharma Mission - An Overview of i3 Program

National Biopharma Mission was launched in 2017, with a total outlay of US $250 million. World Bank would provide 50% of the funds to the tune of US $ 125 million. This program was launched with an objective of promoting entrepreneurship and developing indigenous manufacturing capability in the sector. This mission has been designed to give a boost to the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Start-Up India’ missions launched by the Government of India. This mission was a necessity to achieve a target of $ 100 billion Biotech industry in India by 2025. National Biopharma Mission was launched by the current Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Harshavardhan in June 2017. The aim of this mission is to capture 5% of the global biopharmaceutical industry.

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The government of India launched the Innovate in India (I3) program under the National Biopharma Mission. It is the first-ever industry-academia mission to speed up biopharmaceutical development in India. It aims at plugging-in the gaps in the pharmaceutical sector such as,

1. Unconnected centres of excellence.
2. Lower focus on translational research.
3. Staggered funding.

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National Biopharma Mission – Innovate in India (i3) Program

1. It is a flagship program of Government of India and has received financial assistance from the World Bank.
2. It will build sustainable networks for collaboration between the industry, academia and in turn support the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
3. The program is expected to widen India’s share (currently 2.8%) to 5% in the global biopharmaceutical market resulting in the additional business opportunity.

Read about Bulk Drug Park in the linked article.

National Biopharma Mission – Objectives and Nodal Agency for Implementation

1. The pharmaceutical industry holds a promising future for India, and the National Biopharma Mission is anticipated to be the game-changer for Indian Pharmaceutical Industries.
2. The mission aspires to create a conducive ecosystem to encourage entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector by strengthening technology transfer capabilities in the private and the public sector.
3. It aims to make India a hub for design and development of affordable, novel and effective biopharmaceutical products and solutions.
4. The mission strives to encourage entrepreneurship to transform the health standards of the people of India through affordable medicines.
5. A Public Sector Undertaking of Department of Biotechnology – Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is involved in the implementation of the mission. It is expected to integrate expertise from national and international corridors to provide strategic guidance and direction to yield promising results through the product development value chain.

Read about Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in the linked article.

Though India is an active participant in the global biopharmaceutical market and has contributed towards the manufacture of low-cost life-saving drugs such as heart valve prosthesis, affordable insulin, rotavirus vaccine etc., it is still 10-15 years behind its peers and faces stiff competition from Korea, China etc. Therefore there was an urgent need for innovation, creation and facilitation of scientific discoveries.

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