Catalysing The Growth Of An Innovation Driven Biotech Enterprise

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (A Government of India Enterprise)

About BIRAC

A ‘Not for Profit Company’ set up by Department of

Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India as an

Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the

emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic

research and innovation, addressing nationally

relevant product development needs.

BIRAC’s DNA

Vision“To Stimulate, foster and enhance the strategic research and innovation capabilities of the Indian biotech industry, particularly start ups and SME’s, for creation of affordable products addressing the needs of the largest section of society.”

Mission“Facilitate and mentor the generation and translation of innovative ideas into biotech products and services by the industry, promote academia – industry collaboration, forge international linkages, encourage techno entrepreneurship and enable creation and sustainability of viable bio enterprises.”

Foster innovation and entrepreneurship in all places of researchPromote affordable innovation in key social sectors Higher focus on start ups & small and medium enterprisesContribute through partners for capability enhancementEncourage diffusion of innovation through partnersEnable commercialization of discoveryEnsure global competitiveness of Indian enterprises

Strategies

BIRAC Support to Biotech Ecosystem

Encourage Entrepreneurship; Grant up-to INR 50 Lakhs; Support to ~35 Entrepreneurs in 2 callsStart-Ups/Registered Company with a functional Lab; Scientists/ Faculty/ Researchers associated with bio-Incubators

Launched in 2005; early stage funding for high risk innovative researchSupport for early stage, pre-proof-of-concept research in biotechnology by industryTill date support extended to ~ 105 companies

Government partnership with Industries for support on a cost sharing basisSupport for high risk, highly innovative accelerated technology developmentTill date support extended to ~ 91 companies

Bridging Industry-Academia gapSupport to Academia for Validation and TranslationIndustry acts as Validation Partner with IP rights with Academia

BIG

SBIRI

BIPP

CRS

BIRAC Support to Biotech Ecosystem

Strengthening and up-grading existing Bio-Incubators and to establish new state-of-the-art facilitiesSupport to 12 existing Incubator facilities at New Delhi, Pune, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Bhubaneswar and

Chennai; ~70,000 sq. ft. of bio-incubator space createdNew incubators at RCB, Faridabad and C-CAMP, Bangalore

Social Innovation Programme for Products Affordable & Relevant to Societal HealthLaunched on 15th August 2013

Securing Maternal and Child Health; Achieving WHO’s MDG 4 & 5

BIRAC-DBT-Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationLaunched on 28th August 2013

Securing Family Health, Agriculture, Food & Nutrition

Reinvent the Toilet Challenge: IndiaLaunched on 02nd October 2013

Focusing development of innovative sanitation technologies

BISS

SPARSH

GCI-I

GCI-II

Building Strategic Alliances

BIRAC – DBT – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Partnership• For collaborative scientific and technological research to alleviate some of the world’s most

critical health and development issues.

Collaboration with Wellcome Trust, UK• Focusing on translation research for safe, effective and affordable healthcare products

Collaboration with CEFIPRA• Emphasizing on technological interventions in red and green biotechnology

Partnership with TEKES• Aiming at promoting cross-border resource mobility for enhancing innovative competitiveness

and partnerships

Network and partner with like minded organisations to reach out to all its stakeholders and accomplish mission effectively

BIRAC’s National Presence

Performance Snapshot – BIPP and SBIRI

Funding and Mentoring • Support to 200 companies• Funding support of ~ USD 225 Mn (100 Mn. GOI, 125 Mn. Company) • Mentoring for ~275 innovative projects

Fund Flow Analysis

Promoting Collaborations

New start-ups supported and scaled up

Small and medium enterprises strengthened

New technologies brought to market

Affordable products developed

IP Generated

Investments made on discovery and innovation research. These will include high risk - high return and high risk – low return but with high social impact.

50

150

11

15

1380 Cr.

Assessing the Impact

23

BIGSBIRI

BIPP

CRS

IdeaProof of Concept

Prototype Validation

PilotScale

Market

Stepping-Up the Innovation Ladder

BIRAC’s Areas of Support

Health Care

Agriculture

Industrial Biotechnology Infrastructure

Bio-Informatics

BIRAC’s Support to Nanotechnology

Idea to Proof of Concept

SNO Title Of the proposal Relevant Area Salient Features

1 Testing the feasibility of Nano magnetic disc based ablation of Cancer cells in vitro

Healthcare Applies nanotechnology in a non-surgical targeted cancer cell removal procedure that eliminates the risks and limitations of surgical and non-surgical procedures

2 Engineered stable, nano-sized bubble liposomes - a commercially viable drug delivery platform

Healthcare A novel & viable drug delivery platform of drug-filled bubble liposomes

3 Production of collagen and by-products from fresh water fish origin for biomedical applications

Healthcare Collagen from fresh waterfish origin to offer higher thermal stability similar to mammalian origin for various biomedical products

Idea to Proof of Concept -contd

SNO Title Of the proposal Relevant Area Salient Features

4 Design and Development of a Rapid Point-of-Care Device for Endotoxin Detection in Critically Ill/Septicemia Patients

Healthcare An affordable and robust laboratory scale dot blot bioassay that uses biofunctionalized gold nanoparticles as reporter molecules for the efficient and rapid detection of endotoxin in whole serum

5 Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells by Multifunctional Highly Dispersible Polymeric-Magneto-Antibody Nanosystem

Healthcare The Polymeric-Magneto-Antibody Nanosystem (PMAN) will reliably capture the cancer cells from the artificial Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) blood samples

6 Biomimetic Bone Substitutes:A proof of concept prototype for synthetic bone substitute consisting of a nano composite of Demineralised matrix andhydroxyapatite.

Healthcare Provides the body’s own natural bone growth factors to supplement the action of the bone graft.

Idea to Proto Type

SNO Title Of the proposal Relevant Area Salient Features

1 Development and characterization of lipid carrier based nanogel formulation for 5-Fluorouracil

Health Care Selectively localize the drug to tumor tissues without concurrent increase in its level in healthy tissues

2 Nanotechnology based delivery of peptide inhibitors for the treatment of Osteoporosis

Health Care Peptide inhibitors are expected to offer fewer side effects as they prevent interaction between specific proteins

Proof of Concept to Scale UP

SNO Title Of the proposal Relevant Area Salient Features 1 Production of poly-( Iactide-co-

glycolide) (pLG) nanoparticles encapsulating antitubercular drugs(rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide(PLGA-NP-ATDs) in GMP facilities

Health Care Offers new regimens for tuberculosis that could be administered for a shorter duration/more intermittently without sacrificing efficacy.

2 Evaluation of Platinum nanoparticles for the treatment of Hormone refractory prostate cancer

Health Care Indigenous, cost effective and affordable Platinum based treatment for the management of malignancies

Proof of Concept to Scale UP –Contd-

SNO Title Of the proposal Relevant Area Salient Features 3 Inorganic and polymer nano-

composites for micronutrient & pesticide delivery: Boosting crop health and yield

Agriculture Nanotechnology based delivery vehicles to supply micro-nutrients & pesticides to crops to boost crop health, quality and yield

4 Commercial Scale Production of Nano pesticides for Indian Agro-industry

Agriculture Being physical action insecticide, the product is better than neuro toxic products presently in use. Environmentally safer and gives prolonged control of the insect pests

Challenges in Taking the Nanotechnology related Projects Forward

Accessibility To Government approved labs for doing nanomaterial risk assessment

Absence of clear cut regulatory guidelines necessary for commercialization

Absence of International collaboration for better technology access especially for safety compliance

Next Steps

Funding Agencies to consider setting of Labs for Risk Assesment

Authorized People to immediately look into defining regulatory guidelines for nanotechnology product

Funding bodies to consider Transfer of Technology for nanotechnology interventions relevant to India

Thank you