News: The Government has announced the Biopharma SHAKTI scheme with an outlay of ₹10,000 crore over five years.
About Bio Pharma SHAKTI scheme
- About: Biopharma SHAKTI is a scheme to strengthen the domestic biopharmaceutical sector and enhance global competitiveness in biologics and biosimilars.
- Aim: It aims to promote domestic development and manufacturing of high-value biopharmaceuticals, reduce import dependence, and improve India’s position in the global biologics supply chain.
- Financial Outlay: The scheme has outlay of ₹10,000 crore over the next five years.
- Focus: It focuses to provide early-stage innovation funding and equity support to help startups and industry move biopharma products from concept to development milestones.
- Key features of the scheme:
- Under the scheme, three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPERs) will be established.
- Upgradation of seven existing NIPERs will take place to meet demand for skilled biopharma professionals.
- Large-scale clinical research ecosystem will be created to strengthen advanced clinical trials in India.
- It will focus to strengthen the regulatory system by reinforcing the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and setting up a Scientific Review Cadre for faster approvals.
- About Biologics: They are medications made from biological materials, such as proteins, sugars, and genetic materials from humans, animals, or microorganisms.
- About Biosimilars: They are medications that are similar to biologics but are usually less costly.
