Mansukh Mandaviya says Govt would like to see country emerge as research hub in pharma sector
Hyderabad: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said the government would like to see the country emerge as a research hub in the pharmaceutical sector.
Speaking after inaugurating the ICMR-National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research (NARFBR) at Genome Valley (an organized cluster for life sciences R&D) here, he highlighted the central government's push for indigenous research and innovation.
Mandaviya, who praised the "brain power" in the country, said the rapid vaccine development during the COVID-19 crisis shows the country's strength.
He said India is the pharmacy of the world now and that there are 10,000 to 12,000 pharma units in the country that make formulations and medicines.
"We are the pharmacy of the world. We also want to make India the research hub in the pharma sector," Mandaviya said.
"For research in pharma sector in India, clinical trials need to be conducted. For that, animal facility is very important. The animal research facility is becoming available with this institute. I hope our scientists working here would make use of this institute and play an important role in research in the country," he said.
NARFBR is an apex facility which will provide ethical care and use and welfare of laboratory animals during research. The newly build centre will work as the state-of-the-art facility for not just ethical animal studies but spans from basic, applied to regulatory animal research. It will help in capacity building of new researchers and will create processes for pre-clinical testing of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics within the country along with quality assurance checks.
Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Director General of ICMR and Secretary of the Department of Health Research, termed the facility to be not just best in the country but biggest in the world. "From availability of various animals for ethical research to strengthening various processes under one umbrella, NARFBR would be an asset for the country to deal with zoonotic diseases" he added.
During his visit to Hyderabad, Mandaviya also visited the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and interacted with scientists and students.
