On day- 2 of Bangalore INDIA BIO 2011, India's premier Biotechnology event organized by the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Vision Group on Biotechnology, MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications and ABLE, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon Limited, and the Chairperson of Karnataka vision group on Biotechnology, expressed her views on how value creation can be achieved through innovation, in the field of Biotechnology.
She started off by saying that we need to create an experimental culture, foster an entrepreneurial environment, and incentivize business differentiation. “Concept and ideas aren’t enough; they need to be translated and implied in a manner that is beneficial to others.”
She spoke of how the recession of 2008 has created a risk aversion across businesses. Innovation-led companies have run into bankruptcy. R&D is at a risk like never before, proved by the fact that Corporate spending on R&D is reducing, and lots of scientists in the West have lost their jobs. In fact, Biotechnology companies have raised less cash in the previous decade, than before. She asked, “Can India bail out the West from this crisis? Can it be the silver lining?”
Dr Shaw then asked, “Can India be the global enabler for affordable drug development?” Answering her own question, she added that India can deliver affordable innovation to the world- from TATA Nano to new drugs. Innovation is increasingly unaffordable in the West. Product development is making new drugs expensive. As a result, generic drug manufacturing has shifted from the West to India and China. The West is also running out of patients, making it tough to carry out clinical trials. It is a good thing in a way, for that means the general health of the people is improving. But, that is only in the West; in developing and underdeveloped nations, there is no dearth of patients.
Next, Dr Shaw delved into opportunities for innovation in the field of healthcare. Beginning with Diagnostics, she said that medical diagnosis should not be just about giving out the right dosage of the medicine to patients; it should be about making drugs that have a positive effect on them. Medicine needs to be personalized.
Speaking of innovation in devices, she gave an example of how mobile phones can be used to maintain health records, and to disseminate health education. We have the opportunity to improve personal disease management. What we need are instruments which are affordable, but give high end results; in short we need affordable innovation.
Coming to the topic of drugs, she spoke of the “cancer vaccine”. She wondered if we could get the immune system to fight cancer cells, using a cancer vaccine. She told the audience of unique cancer biomarkers being developed at MIT, and remarked that we ought to build such unique concepts of enhancing medical treatment. “How do we move from cancer care to cancer cure?” she asked. She also added that it is important for us to challenge the status quo and innovate in health care.
The last trend she spoke of was regenerative medicine. She said that companies should stop trying to do what every other company is doing. It is important that companies realize the importance of innovation, and do something different from the others.
Innovation, according to Dr Shaw, is not a random activity, but a “planned process”. There are 4 forms of innovation: Experimental Innovation, wherein a completely new idea is generated, Breakthrough Innovation, wherein market leaders are created in innovation, Incremental Innovation, wherein leadership is built in innovation, Evolutionary Innovation, wherein the market leadership in innovation is expanded.
She then remarked, “Biomarkers are setting the stage for personalized medicine. Biomarker strategy is becoming important for clinical, regulatory and reimbursement success.” Continuing, she said that just pursuing the known is not enough. We have to innovate. A 1 million dollar idea gets translated to a billion dollars through regulatory approval. Value generation though innovation is the need of the hour.
She wrapped up the session by answering a question from the audience, regarding the importance of Biotechnology in overcoming environmental challenges. She said that Biotechnology can play a huge role in this, as it has the opportunity to give as alternate fuels as compared to fossil fuels, it can play a role in solid waste management, and combat pollution issues by giving a green solution.
