Biotech firms urge govt to 'Walk the Talk'

Lauding the government's initiative of the National Biotechnology Policy, industry experts said that it was imperative that the policy be implemented in a time-bound manner, and that the government ensured that it "Walk the Talk" if the industry had to reap the benefits of the policy.

"Implementation is the key word if the policy has to succeed," Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman, Serum Institute, said here during a panel discussion on National Biotech Policy-The Way Forward at the BioSpectrum awards late last night.

"Walk the Talk" is what the industry expects from the government, which had chalked out the policy, said Dr K K Narayanan, president, Able. "People should put their money where their mouth is," he said candidly.

Hailing the National Biotechnology Development Strategy as a "well thought out document," Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon, said it was imperative that it was implemented in a time-bound manner.

Calling for a single-window regulatory authority, she said that the system should truly be a single window system without companies having to interface with layers of authorities.

According to Poonawala, efforts have to be taken to ensure that the funds sanctioned to small entrepreneurs was not bundled along with red tape and bureaurcatic hurdles.

Lauding some elements of the policy, Narayanan said it had underlined the importance of the private sector in nation building by taking the initiative of commiting to spend 30% of DBT's annual funds on private public projects.