To encourage and support startups in India and help early-stage innovators advance on their journey, American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer has announced collaboration with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER), Ahmedabad.

This collaboration will endeavour to support healthcare startups in turning their innovative ideas into market-ready solutions. The initiative is being supported by the Department of Pharmaceuticals and Niti Aayog and is being anchored by Social Alpha.

This partnership expands on the successful Pfizer INDovation initiative, through which 34 startups in India have already been supported through funding and incubation to bring their breakthroughs to market. Through this partnership with NIPER Ahmedabad, this initiative will follow a cohort-based approach with the aim of selecting 6 innovators pan-India, that will be incubated at NIPER Ahmedabad.

Startups with a proof-of-concept that matches the set mandate will be selected for a one-year accelerator programme. Each of these startups will receive incubation support in areas of product development, regulatory pathway, pre-clinical testing, tech transfer support through NIPER ecosystem and real-world clinical fitment check. They will also receive funding support of up to Rs 25 lakh each.

Together, Pfizer, NIPER Ahmedabad and Social Alpha will be looking for innovations at TRL levels 3 or higher in the areas of deep tech and artificial intelligence for predictive analysis, point-of-care testing, SaaS, informatics and wearables and track and trace solutions.

NIPER Ahmedabad is in the process of setting up a Centre of Excellence in Medical Devices. This partnership will further help startups in this domain take advantage of the NIPER Ahmedabad innovation ecosystem in medical devices to advance in their journey towards commercialisation.