According to Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, the JWG, which is part of the bilateral High Technology Cooperation Group, decided at its April 5 meeting to prepare a roadmap in the next three months for allowing companies to export or import bio-materials without the fear of being hobbled by the Bush administration’s dual use restrictions.
The other significant result of the JWG has been the agreement to develop protocols for clinical trial of drugs in India in the coming months. This means that Indian clinical trials will measure ups to the global standards and will be treated on psar with the international standards.
A significant example is of a US drug giant currently considering India for clinical trials of an anti-cervical cancer drug beginning June this year.
But this is only one aspect of a biotech partnership between the two countries. Dr Ram Mandalam, vice-president (Pharmaceutical Operations) of Cellerant Therapeutics, says a number of pharma companies are off-shoring their R&D work to Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad to bring down cost. "Companies such as Reamatrix and Sigma have opened shops in India to conduct studies on the basic biochemistry of drugs with the costs working to their advantage," he said.
