The recently announced National Biotechnology Policy (NBP) was the focus of a lively panel discussion at the Fifth Annual Biotechnology Awards function organized by CyberMedia's BioSpectrum magazine at the Hotel Leela Palace in Bangalore on late December 21 evening.

Lauding the policy, Dr. Samir Brahmachari, the newly appointed Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), announced that the CSIR would wholeheartedly participate in joint research programmes with the biotechnology industry. He stressed that the Indian biotech industry could become a global leader only if its young scientists took up research in nascent areas instead of just follow-up development. 

Among other panelists debating the subject Dr. Mrs. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon called for the quick setting up of the regulatory authority for the biotech industry recommended by the NBP, while Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman, Serum Institute, Pune urged that such an authority should be a one-stop shop to avoid delays in the commercial release of a product. Dr. K.K. Narayanan, President, Association of Biotech-Led Enterprises (ABLE), welcomed the national policy as being comprehensive but cautioned about the need for timely implementation. 

Responding to the suggestions, Dr S Natesh of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India said that his department was ready to go more than half way to partner with the industry in its research efforts. He favoured the setting up of a joint committee with the industry to directly disburse the allotted research funds without having to go through any Government ministry. Moderating the discussion, the Editor of BioSpectrum, Mr. Narayanan Suresh, recalled with satisfaction that from its first issue, 5 years ago, CyberMedia's magazine had been pursuing the idea of a National Biotechnology Policy. 

The BioSpectrum Person of the Year 2007 award went to Mr. Varaprasad Reddy, managing director of Shantha Biotechnics for pioneering a biotech wave and making a societal impact by launching life saving vaccines and therapeutics at affordable cost. Mr. Reddy is also a Padma Bhushan awardee. 

The co-founder and Chairman of Strand Life Sciences, Dr. Vijay Chandru, was acknowledged as the Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. In his video-recorded acceptance speech (he has gone to Boston to undergo follow up treatment for the gunshot wounds he suffered during the terrorist attack at the Indian Institute of Science two years ago), Dr. Chandru said genomics is poised to take off as an industry worldwide and this will, in turn, revive the bioinformatics sector in which his company is a participant. 

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Dr. Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, former director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). Thanks to Dr. Bhargava's untiring efforts, CCMB is today as one of the most well known biotech research centres in the world. Dr. Bhargava has spent over four decades in Biotech development in India and is a recipient of several prestigious awards including the Padma Bhushan. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shyam Malhotra, Editor-in-Chief of the CyberMedia Group, said, "This award function is a special occasion for us also as we have completed a quarter century of reporting the emergence of a knowledge nation. Starting with just one magazine - Dataquest, 25 years ago, we have grown into South Asia's largest specialty publication and B2B media group with 15 titles. Our journey and growth till now has been synonymous with the evolution of the IT and Telecom sectors in India. Going ahead, we hope to repeat the same experience with the growth of the Biotechnology industry in the country." 

Mr. E. Abraham Mathew, President, CyberMedia's Online Businesses and Biotech Publications added, " CyberMedia is also the first Indian media house to have ventured outside the country to serve a global audience by publishing two magazines - BioSpectrum Asia from Singapore and Global Services from the US ." 

The other awards declared at the evening included:

• BioProduct of the Year: BioMAB EFGR, the head and neck cancer drug from Biocon 

• BioState of the Year: Gujarat 

• BioPharma company of the year: Serum Institute of India, Pune 

• BioAgri Company of the year: Rasi Seeds, (Athur, Salem district, Tamil Nadu) 

• BioServices Company of the year: Syngene (a Biocon group company) 

• Bio-Industrial Company of the year: Novozymes, Bangalore 

• BioSupplier of the Year: ThermoFisher Scientific, Mumbai

The selection for these awards was made by an independent jury headed by Mr. M. Ramaswami, Managing Director, Rasi Seeds. He was BioSpectrum Person of the Year in 2006. Other members of the jury included Dr. Viloo Morawalla-Patell, CEO and Founder, Avesthagen ( BioSpectrum Entrepreneur of the year 2006) ; Dr. M. Radhakrishnan Pillai, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Centre of Biotechnology, Trivandrum; Dr. Satish D. Ravetkar, Senior Director, Serum Institute, Pune and Dr. KK Narayanan .

Mr. N Suresh, Group Editor of BioSpectrum (India and Asia) thanked the Biotech Industry for giving the magazine all the support in chronicling and commenting on the developments of this fast growing Rs. 8300 crore industry. 

About CyberMedia
CyberMedia, now in its 25 th year, is South Asia's first and largest specialty media house, with fifteen publications (including Dataquest, DQ Channels and DQ Week, PCQuest, Voice&Data, Global Services and DARE) in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics, biotech and entrepreneurship areas, and is a media value chain including Internet ( www.ciol.com), events and television. The group's media services include market research (IDC India), job board (CyberMedia Dice), content management, multimedia, and media education. 

CyberMedia also publishes BioSpectrum Asia from Singapore and Global Services from the USA , the first Indian magazine titles to be published from outside the country for a global audience.

For media inquiries, please contact: :
At Strategic Communications and PR 
Sanjiv Kataria
+ 91 98100 48095
Sanjiv.kataria@gmail.com 

At CyberMedia: 
Ch. Srinivas Rao, 
Executive Editor, BioSpectrum 
+ 91 98455 80279 
srinivasch@cybermedia.co.in