When the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), an industry body of the biotechnology industry, decided to open its first regional chapter, it was the Western region that it chose. It was fitting that the chapter should be located in Pune and even more appropriate that Venture Center, a deep technology incubator, plays host to the western regional chapter.

Just consider these facts: Maharashtra was the largest contributor to India’s bio-economy in 2021 with a 23 percent share; the State’s contribution was $18.6 billion; it registered a 9 percent growth over the previous year; and, Maharashtra has a 36 percent share in the biopharma sector. The total bio-economy in the country was about $80 billion in 2021 and is estimated to go up to $150 billion by 2025, according to Mr. G.S. Krishnan, President, ABLE.

Pune is home to quite a few biotechnology firms and is also home to Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., a leading vaccine maker and which accounts for nearly 90 percent of the covid vaccines administered in the country. Pune is also home to Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., another vaccine maker that has developed the country’s first mRNA Covid vaccine which recently got emergency use authorization.

It was during the Covid-19 pandemic and the nation-wide lockdown that Pune’s strengths in biotechnology and vaccine manufacture came to the fore. And, playing a key role in this was Venture Center, which was the nucleus for tech-driven response to the pandemic. Many start-ups that had some connection or the other to Venture Center came up with major initiatives, be they in diagnostics, bioreactors, vaccine carriers, defibrillators, oxygen enrichment systems, disinfection, PPEs, testing support for biologicals or masks and face shields. Venture Center, according to Dr. V. Premnath, Director, led several initiatives along with volunteers through the Pune Action Group on face shields, N95 masks, temperature scanners, oxygen concentrators, in arranging funding or as members of national expert committees.

How did all this come about? Says Dr. Sanjay Singh, CEO, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, Pune has many things going for it. The city is cosmopolitan in nature, has ace infrastructure already in place in terms of Pune University, National Chemical Laboratory, National Centre for Cell Science, National Institute of Virology, Serum Institute, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals and MyLab Discovery Solutions.

As far as biotechnology is concerned, Dr. Singh feels Pune, like Bengaluru, is well poised to play a leading role mainly because of the simultaneous development of biotech and IT. The technology background in the city combined with the availability of skilled manpower makes Pune an ideal place for the biotechnology sector to grow. “Pune is going to the next level,” he adds.

According to Dr. Premnath, Venture Center and its start-ups played a major role in the national efforts during Covid-19. Many of the start-ups either incubated at Venture Center or had got grants through it or associated in some way with the tech incubator had crucial roles to play in areas such as diagnostics (MyLab), single-use bioreactors (OmniBrx), vaccine carriers (Blackfrog Technologies), defibrillators (Jeevtronics), oxygen enrichment systems (Genrich Membranes), disinfectant solutions (WeInnovate, Green Pyramid Biotech, PadCare Labs), PPEs (Zeroplast), ventilators (Aerobiosys, Gyrodrive), and analytical and technical support for vaccine development (Shantani Proteome Analytics Pvt. Ltd.). Venture Center supported startups working on COVID related innovations through different funding opportunities like DST CAWACH, CSR funds, Donations and Seed funding/ prototyping grants. The Venture Center team was also part of national committees like TFORD-COVID19 (Task Force on Repurposing Drugs for COVID) and the Vaccines Expert Committee.

Dr. Umesh Shaligram, Executive Director, Serum Institute, while talking about his company’s efforts in developing Covid vaccines, says that Venture Center is part of this story. It was to one of the companies associated with Venture Center that Serum Institute turned to for characterization of a lot of its products. Serum Institute took the data generated at Venture Center to the regulatory body in the US. The data was critically and thoroughly evaluated and there has been great acceptance of the quality.

According to him, the ecosystem was already in place with the National Chemical Laboratory, Venture Center and other government organizations. “We were already interacting and using the support of some of the incubator companies. We, in fact, have already supported this activity for our projects such as HPV vaccine, malaria vaccine and Pertussis vaccines. Being fully aware about the commitment, dedication, knowledge and skills, it was easy to connect with them and use their services during Covid,” says Dr. Shaligram. The collaboration, he adds, existed prior to the pandemic and during the pandemic, it was just easy to connect and execute.

Is there a model that can be replicated across the country so that the benefits are bigger? Dr. Shaligram says that it is critical that a model of collaboration that already exists should be part of the larger ecosystem of product development and delivery across India. The key for tackling any future health emergency is the skilled, educated and trained manpower coming back to the country and having their start-ups is a big support for the larger ecosystem and their in-depth understanding and execution of science. Mr. Shailendra Kawade, Co-founder and Chairman, MyLab Discovery Solutions, describes the efforts that went into self-diagnostic kits for Covid and recalls the help and guidance that his company got from many, including Serum Institute and Venture Center. As an ecosystem, he says, they are working on tools that will help them respond rapidly as and when something happens again. (EOM).

ABLE Western Regional Cluster News