Page 142 - CW E-Magazine (12-3-2024)

Pharmaceuticals

ACCELERATING BIOPHARMACEUTICAL INNOVATION
SATHI Foundation awards Rs. 60-crore to Mumbai

bio-cluster

In a significant boost to India’s bio- cal products. With a
pharmaceutical ecosystem, the De- focus on monoclonal
partment of Science and Technology’s antibodies, vaccines,
(DST) SATHI initiative has granted mRNA technology,
Rs. 60-crore to the Mumbai bio-cluster. and cell & gene therapy,
Comprising institutions such as ICT the facility will ad-
Mumbai, IIT Bombay, TIFR, ACTREC, dress key challenges
and Khalsa College, Mumbai, the faced during techno-
bio-cluster aims to revolutionise drug logy scale-up and
development in the country. validation in the
drug development
Led by ICT Mumbai’s Vice Chan- phase. Central to the
cellor, Prof. A.B. Pandit and Dr. Ratnesh bio-cluster’s mission
Jain, Principal Investigator, DST- is the provision of a
SATHI project, the Mumbai Biocluster Good Manufactur-
is set to catalyse innovation in biopharma- for diseases like cancer, rare diseases, ing Practice (GMP) facility, enabling
ceuticals. Supported by Dr. Prasanna and infectious diseases. drug development at an affordable cost.
Venkatraman from ACTREC, Dr. Pratiksha By bridging the gap between research
Palahe from Khalsa College, Prof. The bio-cluster will serve as an and commercialisation, the Mumbai
Sudipta Maiti from TIFR, and Prof. accelerator for start-ups, academia, Bio-cluster aims to propel India to the
Rohit Srivastava from IIT Bombay, the MSMEs, and industries, providing state- forefront of biopharmaceutical innova-
collaborative effort aims to accelerate of-the-art infrastructure and expertise for tion, driving economic growth and
the development of critical therapies faster development of biopharmaceuti- improving healthcare outcomes.

MARKETING COLLABORATION
DKSH inks distribution deal with Lactalis covering

India and other regions

Switzerland-based DKSH’s Per- in Asia and
formance Materials business unit, Europe. Mr.
a leading distributor of speciality Zeljko Pockaj,
chemicals and ingredients, will pro- Vice Presi-
vide business development, market- dent, Global
ing, sales, logistics, and distribution Pharmaceuti-
services for Lactalis’ pharmaceu- cal Industry,
tical-grade lactose for customers Performance
producing Finished Dosage Forms high-purity pharmaceutical lactose Materials, DKSH, commented, “Our
(FDFs), including tablets, pills, cap- to formulate oral solid dose medi- deep market insights and a broad
sules, liquid solutions, among others cines, conforming with the lactose range of services in the region will
in India besides other nations like monohydrate monograph of the cur- enable us to increase growth for
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, rent Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur., USP- Lactalis’ pharmaceutical-grade lactose
Portugal, and Spain. NF, and JP). DKSH has been entrus- and generate more value for our wide
ted to grow Lactalis’ pharmaceutical customer base in the pharmaceutical
France-based Lactalis provides business across the six key markets industry.”

142 Chemical Weekly March 12, 2024

Contents Index to Advertisers Index to Products Advertised