THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS
July11, 2005

There are hardly any VCs around to promote the biotech sector

The way forward for the Indian biotechnology sector is to focus on developing proprietary products and building global capacities, says Dr Villoo Morawala Patell, founder and CEO, Avestha Gengraine Technologies (Avesthagen). “The Indian biotechnology sector is poised for faster growth as the country enters the new product patent regime,” she says. Avesthagen itself is rapidly evolving into a biotechnology conglomerate specializing in agriculture and pharma. “The strategy for Indian biotech companies to succeed in the international markets is to have a strong R&D focus and market their services and products in an efficient manner,” she says. In an interview with Sudhir Chowdhary, Dr Morawala Patell discusses the various issues of the biotech sector. Excerpts:

How do you perceive the current biotechnology scene in the country? Where does it stand today compared to other Asian countries?

The current biotechnology scene in the country is exciting. There is a buzz in the air and many people from different walks of life seem to want to contribute to the emerging healthcare landscape. The government’s initiatives too are laudable and their programmes would bring out a new breed of scientist entrepreneurs. However, much of the hype and announcements are being made on fundamentally a generic pipeline and therefore, unless some real new discovery-based effort brings fruit, we could largely be not a new biotech model but a repeat of the re-labelled old economy model.

Korea and China are aggressive too and there are some exciting new pieces of work there. Singapore has good facilities and is trying to attract big pharma and biotech but the lack of human resources will not make it a self-reliant model but some bursts of temporary success.
 

What are the particular strengths of Indian biotech companies?
 

I think human resource is the biggest strength of the biotech sector. At the same time, I would like to reiterate that we need to work on quality standards and manpower issues to ensure the right growth of the sector. The biotechnology sector needs to provide attractive incentives to avoid attrition.
 

Is the present regulatory environment conducive for the growth of the sector?
 

The regulatory environment is getting better but a lot more work needs to be done. However, the growth could only accelerate if we could remove bureaucracy and personal hegemony of vested interest and coteries that form around the functioning bodies.
 

Is venture funding still a major issue for Indian biotech firms?
 

Certainly it is still poor. Also, venture funding towards the biotech sector is not serious. Barring a few players like ICICI Ventures and APIDC Ventures, there are hardly any players around to catapult the sector to the next phase of growth.
 

What are the bottlenecks which are hampering growth of the sector?
 

I think it’s the lack of vision of the powers that be at all levels and demagoguery.
 

So, what needs to be done to give a fillip to the biotech sector?
 

Let new young players enter the field. There is also a need to give them support and remove the demagogues. In the West, support comes from various quarters: from the government, venture capital community and from the market to start an enterprise. We need to create the same environment here.