Guwahati BT Park ready to host firms
July 11, 2011 | Monday | News
Guwahati Biotech Park is looking for companies to set up their units in the Guwahati Biotech Park Incubation Centre (GBPIC). The biotech park, which provides an excellent opportunity to the entrepreneurs of North East India, has a ready-to-use space available in the Technology Complex at IIT Guwahati. The common facilities that are available at the park include, a bio-business center consisting of meeting rooms, conference halls and a cafeteria; a central instrumentation facility featuring technologies such as LC MS/MS, HPLC, MS directed autopurification system, GCMS, CHNS elemental analyzer, FT-IR, florescence spectrophotometer, UV spectrophotometer, speedvac and ultracentrifuge and other molecular biology equipments. Moreover, facilities such as a common effluent treatment plant, spectroscopy grade water, 24X7 hours security, uninterrupted power and water supply are also offered at the park.
Situated in the northern bank of the river Brahmaputra, the Guwahati Biotech Park, provides a platform to promote entrepreneurship in North East India. The park is surrounded by lush green environment and is located in close proximity to premier institutes including IIT Guwahati, Assam Engineering College, Institute of Advanced Studies of Science & Technology, Guwahati University and the Brahmaputra Industrial Park. Launched by an autonomous society under the Government of Assam, the biotech park will have facilities to support the preparation of medicinal plant master database of North East India, databases for assessment of local health traditions, database on clinically important plants of ayurveda from North East India, pharmacognosy bulletin on trade and medicinal plants and multi-lingual website programme on home doctor.
The major focus of the biotech park is to boost the states that are renowned healthcare practitioners of ayurveda by synerging traditional knowledge with scientific validation and technical product profiling and clinical database. The park would also set up an R&D center to study and introduce new techniques for extraction of medicinal plants and testing for various target organisms. The park is also expected to promote discovery of new chemical entities (NCE) from natural products of terrestrial, microbial and marine origin. The biotech park and its facilities are expected to boost the healthcare and pharmaceuticals sector of North East India.
India to increase access to ARV Therapy
India has called for proactive and collective action from the international community to dismantle trade and intellectual property right barriers and improve the availability of accessible, affordable and quality drugs for the needy and impoverished. Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, while speaking at the high level meeting of the General Assembly on HIV and AIDS in New York, highlighted India's efforts on prevention, treatment, care and support of HIV and AIDS. He said that India was able to contain the epidemic with a prevalence of just 0.31 percent. Indias, focus has been on high risk groups, expanding services and improving access to anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy.
Pharmaceutical companies in India have been providing high quality and affordable drugs for use not only in India but also supplying to around 200 countries. The minister pointed out that it is important that considerations of commerce and profitability are not used to erect artificial barriers between life and death. Another crucial barrier in universal access to treatment that needs to be addressed is the high cost of anti retro viral medicines.
Lucknow BT Park steps up agri-biotech efforts
Lucknow Biotech Park has stepped up its efforts to promote agriculture in the northern part of the country. More than 500,000 banana plants of the high quality G-9 variety are available at the biotech park for immediate supply. These plants have been cultivated according to the standards and specifications laid down by the Department of Horticulture, Government of Uttar Pradesh and are free from virus. District Horticulture officers and farmers can procure these at the government approved rate of
13 per plant. The eight-acre biotech park was set up in the year 2001 with an aim to provide facilities to biotech companies in the area.
There are numerous facilities that are operated under public-private partnership at the park including, the biofertilizer unit, which is being run alongwith Hindustan Bioenergy. Also, there is the tissue culture and hardening facility, being operated in collaboration with Sheel Biotech. Few of the tenant companies at the park include, ABC Genomics (India), Chandan Healthcare, Cognate Bioservices, Genetech Laboratories, H H Biotechnologies, IQRA Biotech Services, Life Care Innovations, Rama Associates and Vivo Biosciences.
