By A Special Correspondent, Mumbai Biotechnology has made significant strides in the last century and this millennium is expected to be the era of biotechnology and information technology. A large number of products have already been approved for marketing and many more are being developed. These products include dozens of therapeutics including human insulin for diabetes, growth factors used in bone marrow transplants, products for treating heart attacks, scores of diagnostic kits for AIDS, hepatitis and other infective agents, enzymes used in food production etc., said Dr Manju Sharma, secretary, Department of Biotechnology while inaugurating the conference on biotechnology organised by Chemtech Foundation here today.
Vaccines are one of the greatest developments of modern medicine.
They have pushed polio to the brink of extinction and spared countless people from numerous diseases like typhus, tetanus, Measles, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus and other dangerous infections. But still for many other diseases like malaria, AIDS, herpes, hepatitis C we have to yet find a successful vaccine. DNA based vaccines are delivered directly into the cells and then they instruct the cell to synthesise the encoded antigenic proteins, she said. The challenge before us is to mount a massive effort on basic innovations in biosciences and build entirely new partnerships with industries both private and public sectors, financial institutions etc, she added. Dr M D Nair, a pharmaceutical industry consultant from Chennai, said even though India has recognized the potential of biotechnology to develop processes and products of great value to the society with adequate commercial returns, as reflected by the setting up of the National Biotechnology Board in the early eighties and subsequently the Department of Biotechnology, industrial activity in this area has been marginal during the last decade and a half.