3.0La lettre des biotechnologies

E D I T OWhy India?To which stereotypes do you associate India with? Slums, beggars? Bollywood and Yoga? Satyajit Ray’s Black and White movies? Gandhi? Holly cows? The sacred Ganga? Computer wizards? Endless bureaucracy? Tourism? Wake up, it’s 2015, and India is changing. With 1.3 billion population, this immense democracy becomes a center of attention. Contrarily to China India has also kept its millennium cultural roots fascinating the West. Michel Testard predicts that India is France's economy future. A French crazy perspective? India being the new land of opportunities? Why? How to succeed in a country where finding the right person is the ultimate challenge?

Zooming in on India's most dynamic States we can appreciate the last decade's evolution and the way it opens to foreign countries. Even if estimates still count 250 M Indians living under poverty threshold, the middle class is quickly expanding. In 2013, 170 M Indians were flying planes inside India, four times more than in the year 2000. Why do Indians travel so much? For work, business, pilgrimages, family. Because they’re modern and up to date. Indians are young. More than 650 M of Indians are less than 26. This huge democracy is boosting with energy. This youth carries hopes and will power that is now lacking in our old Europe. Although still a patriarchal society many youth are now running major innovative top companies. With enhanced skills these youths are craving for comfort and luxuries and become great consumers.

Suite p.2

F O R U M

Between tradition and modernityIndia originated from the Indus Valley (2500 to 1500 BC) civilization. The political and social wisdom of Vedas; Buddha’s doctrine; invention of zero and the decimal system; use of differential calculus to explain the movement of celestial bodies and practice of surgical medicine in ancient times; Taj Mahal and Gandhi’s non-violent independence movement are some accomplishments of “the Indian genius”.

Such assets attracted multiple invaders. From Alexander the Great (320 BC) to the European trading nations, all brought diversity in the Indian scientific, religious and philosophical thought. The British got a strong foothold in the east (Calcutta) in 1757 and took whole sole control of “the united India” in 1870. The Raj focused on economic governance for the benefit of the British Crown. It exploited the cultural and religious “diversity” both positively and negatively. Only selected few had access to civil rights. Visibility of “Indian science & literature” improved: mathematician S. Ramanujan, J.C. Bose and Nobel Prizes of C.V. Raman & R.N. Tagore.

On independence (15th August 1947), the British left the subcontinent partitioned between India and Pakistan. The great exodus and the consequent massacre of hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Muslims was disastrous. Major Indo-Pak border conflicts (1948, 1965 & 1971) have been caused by the ambiguous status of Kashmir. Dispute over Tibet, border conflicts with China in Laddakh and sometimes externally instigated separatist movements are additional sources of pre-occupation for India in view of its sensitive geo-political situation.

India, the biggest democracy in the world, is a land of contrasts. It accommodates ancestral traditions (caste system), multiple religions and modernity equally well. The social-economic policies of the 50s have successfully transitioned towards market economy with sustained growth. Endeavors like Green Revolution, advancement in IT based economy, development of indigenous expertise in nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and space missions to Mars have placed modern India in a position of political, economic, cultural and scientific prominence in the world.

Making provisions for an egalitarian society respectful of traditional values in face of increasing population (20+ million/year) and the “forces of globalization” is both a great opportunity and a real challenge for India.

■ DOCTEUR VINOD KUMAR

12 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5

PORTRAIT Page 3Biocon: Make in India in Bio-pharma

BIOTECHNOLOGIES Pages 4-5Biotechnology landscape in India

TECHNOLOGY Page 6The first Indian Bio-cluster to Bangalore

INTERNATIONAL Page 7

THEY MOVED Page 5FOCUS, AGENDA Page 8

C O N T E N T

N U M B E R

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N E W S

BIRAC: an instrument to trigger India’s innovationThe Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, BIRAC, was created in 2012, and is funded by the Indian government. This unique agency in the Indian innovation landscape is a not-for-profit company set up to develop start-ups and SMEs in the field of Biotech. Its mission is also to partner with private companies or its homologs from other countries to leverage resources. For instance, BIRAC has a program with France, signed right after the 2013 Technology Summit (see call for proposals page 6). Up to this date, BIRAC funded more than 100 young entrepreneurs, 250 SMEs and Start-ups, and 15 incubators. In September 2015, BIRAC showcased its beneficiaries in a meeting near Delhi to create synergies between these companies of all sizes. This annual meeting is also a way to assess BIRAC’s impact on Indian Research and Innovation landscape. Products developed by these Biotech are spanning from genetics to Bio-energy. The Ministry of Science and Technology (DBT, see Central) puts a lot of hope in BIRAC’s actions. Now to see a real impact, BIRAC must sustain its development towards enterprises, multiply calls, and proves its efficiency in helping enterprises with fundraising, such as venture capitals. In the same line, BIRAC must catalyze the expansion and internationalization of these Indian Biotech. VBL

Think global, act local, that's India. Frugal innovation is low cost local proper manufacturing making India proud of it's inventiveness they call Jugaad. The government, far from condemning this simple way of innovating, promotes its efficiency with local sponsoring and national funding. Since 2014, new Prime Minister Modi showcases a more attractive India to foreign investors. Will he manage to handle opposition at the high commission Congress? Will he be able to get rid of the “Babus” (pejorative slang for bureaucrats dating from the British colony)? Will he thus convince Westerners? Especially Americans who started criticizing Modi after one year in Office finding him not enough of a doer.

India comes now with Nasdaq traded multinational companies and state

of the art medical care. This country is huge (6 times the size of France), a land of contrast where almost everything seems now possible... So will India be associated with competence, wealth, and economic growth? Can India level up or overcome the Chinese competitor while remaining a Democracy?

This special edition of Life Sciences Industries in India introduces national agencies, enterprises, incubators, and research centers. The main purpose is to guide towards new ideas, and think out of the box, to discover a booming market. In India, growth is slow but steady, and is coming. India represents a tremendous market that could well become tomorrow’s driver of worldwide economy.

■ VÉRONIQUE BRIQUET LAUGIER

E D I T O (suite de la page 1)

W H Y I N D I A ?

Figures. The sector of Biotechnologies & Health in India:

• GDP India’s Gross Domestic Product is about 2 Trillion euros.

• First country to set up in 1987 an information system for the Biotechnology : the Biotechnology Information System (BTIS).

• 733 companies of Biotechnologies.

• 1st world producer of cowpox against the Hepatitis B in 2013.

• 14 billions € : volume of the pharmaceutical market in 2012, it would double in 2016.

• World 12th place in 2012.

• 3rd place in the Asia-Pacific region behind Japan and Korea in 2012.

• A 20 % growth a year on average.

• Incentive public investments: approximately 3.5 billions € for period 2013-17, approximately 3 times more than for the previous five year plan.

• A national plan to bring care in rural India: 65 % of the population of the population is rural.

• 8 % of the world market of the generic medicines.

The sector of information technologies and communication in 2014 it is:

• An industry which represents 36 billions €.

• 970 million subscriptions mobile phone.

• Between 160 and 175 million telephones sold every year.

• More than 225 million smartphones.

• More than 18 billions € of profit for the e-commerce.

• More than 85 million on-line buyers.

• More than 112 million accounts Facebook.

• More than 90 million subscribers WhatsApp.

• Every year 60 millions of new connected to internet.

B R I E F L Y

India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently USD 2.2 Trillion, and is expected to reach USD 3 Trillion by 2020. This has doubled between 2008 to 2014, and has quadrupled since 2000.

Biotech.info 3.0 - numéro 030 | Page 3

GMO's : A RURAL CRISIS IN INDIA PUTS MONSANTO's MODIFIED Bt COTTON TO BLAME

Wide pest spreads of White moth on Bt genetically modified cotton in Penjab and Haryana are responsible for a huge rural crisis: 3 farmers at least, from Bhatinda district in Penjab, have committed suicide last November 6th, and tens of thousands others have started protesting to obtain state support.

According to Reuters, Indian farmers are for the first time ready to abandon genetically modified (GM) cotton after this pest destroyed their crops making them doubt this technology previously considered panacea, miracle working.

Since India had authorized Bt cotton in 2002 production quadrupled, positioning India as a leader in production and 2nd cotton exporter in the world: 95% of the 11 or 12 millions ha of cotton crops are Bt cotton. The States of Penjab and Haryana produce together 680,000 tons of cotton out of the 6,4 millions cotton produced in India. An interruption of Bt cotton would be a huge stake for Monsanto who gave the license to intermediary suppliers who provided seeds to 7 million Indian farmers and own 90 % shares of this market; Monsanto owning only 2 to 3%.

According to Bhagirath Choudhary, South Asia Biotech Centre director, a non-for-profit society, Bt cotton’s seeds would be performing as well as those from 2002. The White moth pest would be due to an extended drought in Penjab and Haryana. In States like Gujarat further West or Maharashtra, with enough monsoon rain the crops are not destroyed. TB

B R I E F L Y

I n September 2015, in response to Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” campaign, Biocon inaugurated its first medical device

manufacturing plant producing Basalog One, a single dose insulin pen, marking its entry into medical device manufacturing. Biocon is committed to delivering affordable innovation for reduced therapeutic costs of chronic diseases driving therapeutic innovation in important areas with the highest social economic impact like Diabetology, Cardiology, Nephrology, Immunology and Oncology. Biocon is one the few Biotech companies on the Indian Stock exchange market.

Keeping the pulse of the market needs, Biocon has seen a significant growth from its inception as a company supplying blended enzymes to breweries, textile and biofuel manufactures. In the mid 1990s Biocon successfully ventured into the biopharmaceuticals manufacturing of generic statins (cholesterol lowering medications), insulins, biologicals like India's first anti-cancer drug, BIOMAb EGFR and a novel humanized monoclonal antibody (MAb) for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Its two subsidiaries, Syngene International Limited engaged in the business of custom research for drug discovery and Clinigene International Limited engaged in clinical research, were created in 1994 and 2000 respectively. Biocon Park, established in 2006 in Bangalore, India is India's largest integrated biotechnology hub and houses its largest research and development (R&D) and manufacturing facilities. The growth has

since continued on collaborations, acquisitions and extensions of their manufacturing, R&D and distribution on a global scale.

"At Biocon, we have invested in creating a culture that pursues excellence through learning and adopting global best practices. In doing so, we have successfully earned the reputation of being the most preferred biotech employer in Asia", says Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the Founder and Chairman of Biocon. It is the pioneering global vision, a daring spirit and dream to make a difference paired with sheer will of a leader like her that results in successes such as Biocon. She dared not only to create a place for herself in an industry which was not known to have women leaders, but has enabled Biocon to occupy one of the top ranks in Biotech in the world. Ms. Mazumdar Shaw believes that if one wants things to be done, they need to make them happen themselves.

Biocon is the only Asian company to feature among the top twenty biotechnology employers in the world, as ranked by Science magazine.

Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw’s guiding philosophy "ask for everyone and not just for yourself"

brightens many lives. Biocon is not just a biotechnology giant, but also has a proliferative Corporate Social Responsibility arm via Biocon Foundation, aiding affordable healthcare, offering numerous health and education outreach programs targeting the underprivileged sections of India. Biocon also collaborates with educational institutes to make courses more industry oriented, improving the quality of education in India.

■ ANJANA KUNDU

P O R T R A I T

Biocon: Make in India in Bio-pharma.

F r a m e d I d e n t I t y

SOCIETY: Biocon

PLACE: Biocon Park, Bangalore, Karnataka State, India

AIM: To produce medications and medical disposables for chronic diseases

REVENUES: 414 Million euros

PERSONNEL: 7 600 employees

WEB: www.biocon.in

From its beginnings in 1978 in a garage of a rental home in Bangalore manufacturing enzymes, today Biocon is India’s largest fully integrated biopharmaceutical company, credit to its founder Kiran Mazumdar Shaw named “the Queen of Indian Biotech”.

(1) sciencecareers.sciencemag.org

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Biotechnology landscape in IndiaB I O T E C H N O L O G I E S

Since 2000, India shows a strong political appetite for the sector of the Life sciences industries to get into the world’s competition. With 733 companies of Biotechnologies, of

which 300 very large, these Indian enterprises cover the five sectors: Bio-Agrifood, Bio-Industry, Bio-Computing, Bio-Pharma, and the Bio-Services. The sectors of agrifood, pharma and services represent the highest growth with 23 %, 19 % and 15,5 %, respectively. Moreover, the Indian income from biotechnologies went from 450 M€ in 2003 to 3.5 billions in 2011(1). India has real assets. First of all, a powerful association of the companies of Indian biotechnologies, ABLE(2), the Association for Biotechnology Led Enterprises, that produces numerous studies and reports, ABLE, also got involved into training Life Science students to increase their employability in Biotech companies. As well, in India we find numerous scientists and very well trained engineers. Other advantages of India: the know-how to produce in reduced costs by keeping the quality. India counts also many excellent research centers representing an increasing critical mass, especially this past decade with the reverse brain drain from United States, United Kingdom, etc..

The DeParTmenT of BioTechnology, a DeDicaTeD insTrumenT for life sciences inDusTries The Department of the Indian Ministry of Research (Ministry of science and Technology) acts as an agency for funding Life Sciences. With an annual budget of about 200 M€, the DBT has certified 13 excellent centers, and is headed by the Secretary Dr. VijayRaghavan since January, 2013. Dynamic, VijayRaghavan is a worldwide renowned researcher, who headed the Indian research center, the National Center for Biological Sciences, and is at the origin of the creation of the first bio-cluster (NCBS, see Technology part, page 6). Of an optimistic nature, even if he is well aware of the obstacles of the Indian bureaucracy, he meets this challenge daily with humility and cheerfulness. He pursues the public private partnerships (PPP) policy in India to increase leverage effects and values through transfer of technology and innovations. For example, thanks to his action, the BIRAC agency, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (see page 2) headed by a woman, Dr. Swarup, as dynamic as Vijayraghavan, occupies the PPP landscape. Another example of program carried on by the DBT is the BIPP, Biotechnology Industry Partnership Program created to finance the accelerated development of biotechnologies, especially in high risk domains. Even if these programs will be monitored in 2017, we can already say that they change the Indian mentality and facilitate entrepreneurship; which is still too low according to VijayRaghavan: "India could have more enterprises. The Indian investors are still not enough there to support enterprises".

a regional Policy To mulTiPly The ecosysTems in life sciencesThe most important clusters for the Biotechnology and the Pharmaceutical sectors are located in Bangalore in Karnataka,

Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and Chennai in Tamil Nadu (three Southern States), Mumbai in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad in Gujarat (two Western States). These Southern and Western regions concentrate 40,7 % and 44 % market shares, respectively.

The city of Bangalore (Bengaluru), State of Karnataka, is better known to France as the Indian Silicon Valley. Near half of the 300 very large companies of biotechnology are located on the Deccan Plateau: large plateau of Southern India where Bangalore is localized. This concentration of start-ups and value-creating companies in Life Sciences creates a dynamic, and attracts Asian and Western countries (for example, United Kingdom). Karnataka State is proactive, and sets up a regional policy for Science & Technology, with a dedicated department and several initiatives(3). As a recent example, the Bangalore Bio-innovation Center (BBC), inaugurated in January 2015, is funded by the State and Central government, through the DBT. Managed by a young team, BBC has for objective to incubate around thirty companies by Spring 2016(4).

The State of Andhra Pradesh is named "Major bulk drug of India". In its capital, Hyderabad, these past two decades have seen important developments in the field of Biotechnologies. From 1999, with the creation of Genome Valley Cluster, which attracted the development of programs such as Research Centers in Biology, agrifood, etc. the French multinational company, Sanofi Aventis, is established in Hyderabad where it acquired Shantha Biotech in 2010 to expand its vaccines production. The government has an actual policy to offer advantages to entrepreneurs ready to establish their plants in Andhra Pradesh.

The State of Maharashtra concentrates 40 % of the production of pharmaceutical products and 30 % of the patents of the country. In Mumbai and Pune that we find the biggest density of industries of the Life Sciences. For example, Serum Institute of India, a company based in Pune, is the 5th producer of vaccines in the world; it exports its vaccines in 138 countries.

The State of Gujarat represents 28 % of the pharmaceutical national production. In 2007, there were 902 factories of allosteric medicine. It is amazing to see that Gujarat has much fewer research centers than its neighbor Maharashtra State, and if it develops less, it remains one of the major producer of pharmaceuticals.

The State of Tamil Nadu, the very Southern State of India, has also a strong policy for Biotechnologies(5). It possesses many research centers and Big-Pharmas, such as Orchid Pharma(6).

is iT Too early To Tell ThaT inDia is caTching uP?It is certain that there is a progress. Life Sciences industry shows an annual increase of about 20%. The Indian industries have assets to seduce foreign investors. But to reach its full maturity, new actors have to enter the game, in particular at the level of the Bio-industry and of Bioenergy (see page 8).

India wishes to become a major economic actor in 2030 horizon. India could well make it. There are competitors, like other BRICS countries and the whole continent of Africa. Hence, India must attract foreign direct investments. And, what are the Indian assets to reach the top five in the future?

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B I O T E C H N O L O G I E S

Also, expenses in Research & Development by the private sector have to increase. All these programs launched by the local governments or the central State have to create budget leverages within large private industries (see calls page 6). India needs to find funders ready to take risks: capital venture, banks or business angels. If India manages to mitigate its weaknesses, thanks to many assets it can reach the top of the Life Sciences industry in Asia; and it will produce more successful companies. Let’s hope that, for example, Sea6Energy will walk in the footsteps of Strand LS and Biocon. If it is certain that the future of Biotechnologies in India is prosperous, the success will be complete when the foreign entrepreneurs will settle down by numbers on the Deccan Plateau.

■ VÉRONIQUE BRIQUET LAUGIER

T H E Y M O V E D

Last August, DR. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN,

medical doctor and renowned scientist was

appointed Chief Executive Officer of the

Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR.

This position gives her a double mandate,

as she is also appointed the new Secretary

of the Head office of the Health (equivalent

of the Managing director of the Health in

France). Dr. Swaminathan managed the

National Institute of Research for Tuberculosis

to Chennai, State of Tamil Nadu, from which

she is a native.

This double mandate makes of her, as of her

predecessors, the key person for the strategy,

the coordination and the promotion of

biomedical research in India.

DR. MUKESH KUMAR, NEW DIRECTOR OF

THE CEFIPRA was appointed in September,

2015. Cefipra, Indo-French Center for the

promotion of advanced research has been

created in 1985, having been ratified by

Indira Gandhi and Valery Giscard d'Estaing

at the end of the previous decade. Actual

instrument for Science diplomacy, Cefipra

quickly stood out as a facilitator for funding

Indo-French projects in chemistry, physics,

biology, mathematics, etc.

More recently, the need to finance research

projects closer to the market was felt,

with in 2002, the creation of the industrial

committee; then in 2012 the evolution

towards the co-funding of projects in

public-private partnerships, of which a

collaboration with Saint-Gobain for the

sustainable housing environment, or

with SMES (Small & Medium Enterprises),

thanks to a program with BIRAC for the

biotechnologies. Managed by a woman

between 2010 and 2012, Dr. (Mrs)

Amudeswari, then a former diplomat Dr.

Dutta, it is now managed, since September,

by Dr. Mukesh Kumar, who is used to

the Indo-French cooperation. He used to

be the Head of international relations at

ICMR, Indian Council for Medical Research.

Dynamics and used to work with France,

Dr. Kumar is going to have the heavy task to

perpetuate the modernization begun by

Dr. (Mrs) Amudeswari. Supported by a team

of more than 15 people, the new director

will also have to find leverages and solutions

to increase the annual budget, which did

not increase for the past ten years.

STRAND LIFE SCIENCE, A START-UP WHICH BECAME A LARGE COMPANY

Established by four professors of computing and biophysics of one of the most prestigious Indian institutes, the Indian Institue of Science in Bangalore, the IISc, this company, created in 2000 to Bangalore, is a success story.

It is the charismatic Vijay Chandru, one of the four co-founders and CEO at the beginning, who worked at this success. Initially the four co-founders created Strand LS to answer the growing need to manage big data in, as well as the necessity of generating algorithms for the Systems Biology. Pioneer in India, this company got noticed for its exemplary processing of the Complex Systems in Life Sciences and the activity quickly increased. Perseverance was needed, as the profitability was not immediate. now, in 2015, Strand LS is prosperous: with its 200 scientists and engineers, IT specialists, developers, bio-IT specialists, biologists and doctors coming from the best institutions to the world. In fifteen years, of a company which produced "Algorithms for the life", Strand LS became a company with a portfolio of biological products for research, the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. With customers all over the world, Strand LS supplies 2000 laboratories and more than 100 hospitals. So, its slogan "Algorithm for the life" became "New generation of healthcare", with a widened range of services including sequencing and personalized medicine. Strand LS grew up fast and now becomes international. Recently, it settled in Colorado, in the United States, to offer the same services than in India.

Strand LS considers Europe as a target to sell its services, and why not beginning with France?

(1) Report indian biotechnology the roadmap to the next decade and beyond.pdf(2) www.ableindia.in(3) www.bangaloreitbt.in(4) Bangalore Bio-innovation Centre.pdf(5) www.tanscst.nic.in(6) www.orchidpharma.com

Page 6 | Biotech.info 3.0 - numéro 030

The Bio- cluster of Bangalore is located on the campus of Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra (GKVK) where the University

of Agricultural Sciences is established since 1964, within a magnificent park of about 30 acres, close to the airport.

Important information when one knows the heavy traffic in Bangalore. National Center for Biological Sciences, NCBS, created in 1986 on this campus is part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research of the Department of the Atomic Energy (DAE, ministry of the central government). To allow the inventions of the NCBS to create some value and to be transferred into innovations, the C-CAMP, Center for Cellular and Molecular Platform, was inaugurated in 2009 within the framework of the creation of the first Indian Bio-cluster by the central government. This technological platform is dedicated to the innovation and, in five years, introduced and incubated 50 startups, among which 10 in Bangalore. Co-funded by the DBT (Department of Biotechnology), this technological incubator helps the researchers to market their technologies. Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, director of the C-CAMP, offers with his team many services to support the transfer of technologies from labs to companies. Dr. T. Saiyed succeeded in gathering on one project a scientist, an engineer, an industrialist and a business developer.

aBouT fifTy sTarTuPs have Been incuBaTeD in 5 years

In C-CAMP, they have now close to 30 technologies that are for sale as licenses. More recently, C-CAMP signed with the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3)

to set up in Bangalore an innovation hub in Life Sciences, QB3 is an American center for innovation, established in Berkeley in 2000 as a public private partnership between the industry, the State of California, universities of California and some venture capitals. This collaboration will allow Indians to collaborate formally with the United States, within a framework that will facilitate leverages of human and financial resources. The director of QB3, Dr. Regis Kelly underlined that "C-CAMP and QB3 both appreciate the key role life science startups can play in improving the quality of life for our countries and globally. But C-CAMP and QB3 operate in cultures with different challenges and health care systems. By partnering, we hope to learn from each other, and to build one of the most productive ecosystems of innovation to the world."

In the Bangalore Bio-cluster, the third institute was created in 2009 to develop the stem cells research, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, inStem. This institute, stemming from a collaboration between the scientists of the NCBS and from the Christian Medical College to Vellore (State of Tamil Nadu), is the first research center dedicated to stem cells and to regenerative medicine in India.

This creation was obvious with the authorization given by the government to start clinical trials with stem cell derived-medicines: in 2009 Stempeutics Research conducted the first clinical trail as such.

NCBS, inStem and C-CAMP constitute the Bangalore Bio-Cluster to promote the collaboration between researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs and administrators in Life sciences. NCBS is a center of international renown, where, as an example, Dr. Yamuna Krishnan, then a young researcher, developed DNA nanomachines such as "I-Switch" to measure the intracellular pH.

■ VÉRONIQUE BRIQUET LAUGIER

T E C H N O L O G Y

The first Indian Bio-cluster to Bangalore

Avesthagen: a Research & Development company for diagnostic tools and medicines sets in Bangalore. Created in 1998 by a dynamic woman, Dr. Villoo Morawala-Patell, who did her PhD in France, this company is a leader in its specialty, and has 3 main research focuses:

- Pharmaceutical products, most of them granted by Europe and United States of America;

- Ayurvedic Dietary supplements (from millenary yogic tradition);

- The AVESTAGENOME Project® is dedicated to personal medical assistance through diagnosis and different therapeutic aims like Indian Parsi population endemic illnesses.

Dr. Villoo Morawala-Patell, Avesthagen's founder & CEO, accomplished an astounding professional career, as a francophile, she was distinguished by the French government with the medal of the Ordre National du Mérite. She obtained her PhD in Grenoble, France, and intends to create a biotech company in France and thus spend more time in France. She is a member of the most prestigious academic associations in the world.

Cefipra, Indo-French center to promote advanced research, opens every year two calls for proposals with deadlines on 1st of April and 1st of October each year. For more details please visit: www.cefipra.org

Indo-French call for proposals for red Biotech. In this call private and public partnerships with at least one Indian company and one Indian lab as well as one French company and one French lab will be financed (2+2 scheme). Deadline to submit is July 15th 2016: www.frenchscienceindia.org

B R I E F L Y

In 2009, the Indian government initiated the Bio-cluster of Bangalore on the NCBS campus with a technology transfer platform C-CAMP and a research center on stem cells research, inStem.

First row from left to right Regis Kerry, QB3director, Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Taslimarif Saiyed, C-CAMP director.

Biotech.info 3.0 - numéro 030 | Page 7

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

MoviesIn 2014, Véronique Briquet Laugier Counsellor for Science to the French Embassy between 2010 à 2014, former program officer at ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche), coproduced these movies, directed by Paco WISER, with the support of the French Embassy of France to Delhi:

• Two short movies about water challenges in India in 2014 in the framework of the Indo-French Water Network, IFWN, http://ifwn.org/.

• One short movie about Indo-French cooperation in Life sciences shot in 2014

In a landmark collaboration, the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Government of India Department for Biotechnology (DBT), have joined forces to fund three major global research centers. Using high quality research teams based in the UK and India, two of the centers will focus on research into antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the other on cancer biology. Nearly £3.5million will be invested by the UK, through the MRC and the Newton Fund, with matched funding provided by DBT.

The centers will take a global perspective in tackling some of the largest global health problems of today and foster the next generation of researchers with specialist skills:

- The Cambridge-Chennai Centre Partnership on Antimicrobial Resistant Tuberculosis. This is a partnership between the University of Cambridge and the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) in Chennai, India, that will generate a rich and lasting clinical and genomic dataset.

- UK-India Centre for Advanced Technology for Minimizing the indiscriminate use of Antibiotics (UKICAT-MA) will focus on finding solutions to the excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics.

- MRC Cancer Unit at the University of Cambridge with the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India to foster research on cancer biology and therapy in India.

After the investment made by the Wellcome Trust this last decade, to fund the reverse brain drain of Indian researchers with very attractive stock fellowships, it's the turn of British government to invest millions in research centers for Life Sciences in India. VBL MRC website

B R I E F L Y

Main Clusters of R&D and Production for Biotechnologies

A G E N D A

BIOASIA 2016 13th edition of

this big conference which gathers 20

Asian countries in "Federation of Asian

Biotech Associations" (FABA) to promote

healthcare thanks to the progress of Life

sciences. This conference which will be

held from 8 till 10 February 2016 in

Hyderabad, has for theme « Leveraging

India to succeed globally », the purpose

is to determine a road map to boost the

growth Life Sciences industries in Asia.

www.2016.bioasia.in

BioBangalore this huge showcase

for Biotechnologies in Asia will be held

from 9 till 11 February 2016. In its 16th

Edition, BioBangalore chose the theme "

What is trading in Biotech India " During

3 days this event will showcase the

novelties and the future developments of

the sector of the biotechnology in

3 domains: Bio Pharma, Bio Agri and

Bio Services. www.bangaloreindiabio.in

The Bangalore INDIA NANO

is a show gathering since 2007

Nanotechnologies’ actors ranging from

public and private institutions: scientists,

industrialists, and decision makers.

This event is organized by the State of

Karnataka and has for main objective to

favor multi-disciplinary projects, it will be

held on March March 3rd and 4th, 2016.

www.bangaloreindianano.in/index.php

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3.0

F O C U S

Bio-energy and marine biomassMumbai Research Center for Energy is a unique integrated laboratory for research in bioenergy and its applications. In Bangalore, the start-up Sea6Energy is chaired by a chemist, and uses the seaweed biomass to fertilize soils. The Research Center for Energy Biosciences (www.ceb.org.in) is the first public-funded Energy Biosciences Center in India and the only one of its kind with an integrated basic and translational science capabilities, and where science meets technology and to add a new dimension to Bioprocess Technology and Bioengineering. The director, Pr. Arvind Lali, is at the forefront of technology transfer, and collaborates with several companies. In doing research in a new way and with the aim to build capacity, this center develops synthetic biology projects, biofuels engineering, and sustainable solutions for energy.

Sea6 Energy is an enterprise established in Bangalore after an incubation in IIT Madras à Chennai (Tamil Nadu State). Its objective is to use the green biomass from the oceans to develop solutions in several fields. Sea6 Energy is developing enabling technologies to grow and convert sea plants into biofuel, plant growth stimulants, and other bio-renewable products. Its chairman, a chemist and engineer, Dr. Shrikumar Suryanarayan, was also a co-founder of the center C-CAMP in 2009 (see the paper about the first Indian Bio-cluster page 6).

Last May, Mahindra Agri Business signed an exclusive product licence agreement with Sea6 Energy to market and to distribute its crop yield enhancement product, a safe and environmentally friendly fertilizer, ‘Jingo’. Sea6 Energy envisions a future where the abundant oceans will be the tomorrow biomass farms, and will provide solutions in energy, agriculture and food. Growing sea plants on a large scale captures and recycles carbon dioxide from the atmosphere without using scarce resources like land and freshwater for biomass production. In any case, this is a win-win situation, seaweeds are naturally optimized to capture nutrients from the seawater, and they don’t need fertilizers. VBL

Véronique Briquet Laugier spent four years

in India where she headed the Service for

Science to the embassy of France. With

the support of the Ambassador, during

her stay, she created the Research &

Development Club of French companies,

organized the Technology Summit 2013,

produced movies about science (Water

challenges, Life Sciences), chaired the Indo-

French water network, and initiated the public-private partnerships

program in biotechnology between CEFIPRA & BIRAC. More recently,

while maintaining her function as a Lead Thematic Expert within the

French National Agency for Research, she founded her company for

consultants to accompany projects between India, France and the

United States. DECCS, Discover, Exexchange, Consulting, Conference

and Seminars, www.deccs.eu is a company established in France and

in United States. Her American partner, Dr. Anjana Kundu, pediatrician

and anesthesiologist, is the Executive director of DECCS for Americas.

She is based in Seattle, Washington State.