New drug, vaccines to get booster dose from government

NEW DELHI: The biotechnology sector is set to get a booster dose to expand work in drug discovery, vaccines and antimicrobial resistance. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is in the midst of finalising several programmes and global partnerships to give a thrust to these areas, Secretary K Vijay Raghavan said.

DBT is looking to invest in a programme to expand the existing centres for drug discovery and vaccine research. The department will take up the possibility of investing "a few thousand crores" over the next few years with the finance ministry and hopes the proposal will be approved, he said.

"We’re going to see a multiple hub model where there will be many more top quality centres for drug discovery and vaccines," Raghavan told ET on the sidelines of a Science & Technology in Society Forum work shop. The programme is expected to be announced in August or early September, he said. In addition to national investment programmes, DBT is in the process of finalising international collaborations in vaccines and to combat the growing problem of anti-microbial resistance, he said. "We are likely to see big announcements over the next few months."