'Gujarat will continue to lead in biotechnology'

Much hype has been created in projecting Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as hubs of biotechnology growth in the country in the recent past, but Gujarat will continue to maintain its position as the leader in the biotechnology sector, said Sudhir Vaid, managing director of the Ahmedabad-based Concord Biotech, a biotechnology company.

Some of the major pharmaceutical companies that have made considerable progress in the field of biotechnology are Alembic, Torrent Gujarat Biotech, Concord Biotech, Gujarat themis Biosyn, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, maps India, Intas, Zydus Cadila, RPG Life Sciences and Amul.

Vaid said although the sector has come a long way in the state, there is still an acute shortage of trained personnel in this field.

"Although biotechnology has been present in Gujarat for close to three decades now, until the nineties, India was importing biotechnology based technologies for the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), but now companies like Concord are providing technologies providing technologies to various international biotechnology companies," he said.

"The government of Gujarat too needs to come out with a comprehensive biotechnology policy, that will provide a boost to biotechnology units here in the state," Vaid said.

He said there needs to be a better interaction between the biotechnology industry and educational institutions imparting knowledge in the field, so that better quality personnel can be created.

Vaid said if the right balance was struck between the universities and biotechnology industry, several jobs in bio-informatics, DNA forensics, contract bio-manufacturing, corporate development, GMP and validation, large-scale cell culture, process engineering and scale-up development, protein purification and downstream processing and regulatory affairs will be available in Gujarat.

He said the government must look at strengthening technical skills needed.

Vaid said there is still a large scope of upgrading skills in recombinant DNA technology, product purification and cell culture technology, quality assurance and quality control, fermentation and cell culture technology and process development.

Vaid, however, was not much in favour of the concept of biotech parks like the one that is being proposed in Ahmedabad.

"The research and development aspect, especially in biotechnology, is extremely expensive and companies always wish to maintain secrecy in these matters. Moreover, most companies at present into biotechnology have already invested sizable amounts in their own facilities," Vaid said.

The biotech park in Andhra Pradesh has not met with much success either, he said.