Pharma sector to soon showcase new drugs: Union Health Min

The Indian pharmaceutical sector would soon be showcasing new drugs for malaria, osteoporosis and diabetes, Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan here today said.
The candidate drugs are currently undergoing clinical trials, he said.
"The pharmaceutical sector would soon be showcasing new drugs for malaria, osteoporosis and diabetes," Vardhan said.
He announced that simultaneously Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) is carrying out Investigational New Drug (IND) studies on lead molecules for fracture-healing, cancers, thrombosis, malaria and hyperglycemia.
"I am confident that the drug laboratories under CSIR are capable of backing up the Swasth Bharat Mission. Our scientists are focusing on both infectious and life-style diseases. We are developing next-generation drugs, biologics, biosimilars, gene therapeutics, stem cell therapeutics, personalised medicine and multifunctional nanomedicine," the minister said.

It would strive to build a new generation of enterprises in the healthcare sector, he said.

He also announced that government would soon set up the Biopharma Industry Incubator (BII) under the umbrella of CDRI Lucknow.
Talking to reporters after a visit to the CDRI, he said that Indian research and development efforts in government laboratories under the wing of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have a track record in making drugs for kalaazar, filaria, leprosy and tuberculosis available at affordable rates to the common man.
He said that recently IMTECH Chandigarh has developed a clot specific streptokinase, IIIM, Jammu has discovered natural product-based potential medicine for rheumatoid arthritis, IICB Kolkata has developed an herbal extract for the treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia.

"I am certain that India has the potential of becoming a global pharmaceutical powerhouse and am in the process of putting some key enablers in place. These include giving the right incentives for R&D, forging alliances with the private sector and keeping an open mind on suggestions for fiscal relief to the private sector so that its role in R&D is enhanced," Vardhan said.
"Strengthening of the R&D ecosystem is the priority", he said.