Scientists Should Push for Industries to Fund R&D in Translational Health Sciences

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Biomedical scientists and research institutions should seek increased funding from private sources and industries for translational health sciences research, said Dr Ganesan Karthikeyan, Executive Director of BRIC-THTSTI (Translational Health Science and Technology Institute), Faridabad.

Dr Karthikeyan, who is also a professor of cardiology at AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Science), New Delhi, was delivering a lecture on ‘Bridging the Valleys of Death: Navigating the Barriers to Translation’ organised by BRIC-RGCB (Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology) here on Monday.

“Only 18 to 19 drugs have been discovered in India in the last 50 years, while the US discovers at least 20 drugs every year,” he said while explaining how India is miles behind in translational medicine research.

“Our funding for research activities is limited and fragmented. While we get only three million US dollars for biomedical research activities for the entire country, the US gets approximately USD 245 billion for the research activities, which shows the disparity.”

Dr Karthikeyan also noted that the regulations and barriers to obtaining approval for new drugs from regulatory bodies are hindering researchers from gaining momentum in translational health medicine.

“It’s important how we organise and design our research, what we prioritise, and how we understand what’s important for this country,” said Dr Karthikeyan. “Multi-disciplinary and collaborative research is key.”

“The government is pushing us to make biotechnology the fourth pillar of economic development, meaning we have to contribute one billion dollars to the industry. For that, we need to focus on research activities,” said Prof Chandrabhas Narayana, Director of BRIC-RGCB.