Centre mulls National Biopharma Mission 2.O

Buoyed by the success of National Biopharma Mission (NBM), the Central government is planning to announce a similar industry-academia collaborative mission for accelerating discovery research for development of bio-pharmaceuticals in India.

Envisaged as a programme to develop 6 – 10 innovative biopharmaceutical products in five years, NBM exceeded expectations by becoming instrumental in introducing 19 successful products to the market including vaccines, biotherapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostic kits. India’s first MRI scanner developed by Bengaluru based Voxelgrids Innovations, first DNA vaccine for Covid ZyCoV-D of Ahmedabad based Zydus Lifesciences and India’s first Injectable Non-Insulin Antihyperglycemic Biosimilar for type 2- diabetes (liraglutide) of Levim Biotech LLP are among the contributions of NBM. Levim’s marketing partner Glenmark Pharmaceuticals had launched Liraglutide biosimilar at 35% price of the innovator medicine in 2023.

According to ministry officials, both the Centre and the World Bank which had co-funded the $250 million project are keen to announce an NBM2.0 very soon.

In the last five years, NBM had created 22 shared service facilities, supported 70 product development projects, development of 42 novel therapies, 7 technology transfer offices, helped secure or file 33 patents, developed 46 good clinical practice compliant clinical trial sites and trained 7,000 people. The project was structured to fill the gaps that existed in the Indian biopharmaceutical ecosystem that covers discovery and early development of products, pre-clinical development, process development and pilot manufacturing and phase I-III clinical trials.

Commenting on NBM, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, termed the mission as a game changer that made the Indian biopharma sector globally competitive and addressed unmet medical needs in India. “Even the World Bank has recognized NBM as a hidden jewel in its portfolio”, he said. The minister also wanted the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to carry forward the initiatives with more zeal and vigour and assured support at each and every step.

Implemented by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking of DBT, the NBM-Innovate in India (i3) programme supported 135 private entities including start-ups, MSMEs, LLPs, trusts and large companies in five years.

Signing the Legal Agreements between the Central government and World Bank on NBM in 2018, the government had said that the project aims to make India a hub for design and development of novel, affordable and effective biopharmaceutical products such as vaccines, biologics and medical devices for combating public health concerns.