1. Opening ambit as appropriate.
2. I am delighted that this Alliance is coming to fruition after six months of intense discussions as there is no doubt that biomedical research is contributing much to better the quality of life as a whole. I thus feel that the role of such biomedical research cannot be over emphasized in achieving the goal of a healthy and productive society,.
3. As we all know, biomedical research is aimed at understanding human biology at the cellular and molecular level in health and disease. Whereas certain human characteristics are shared by no other species or only by primates, there are many other characteristics that are being shared with many species of animals. The use of animals has therefore become fundamental to all aspects of modern biomedical research from the study of basic biological mechanisms to the understanding of disease pathology and the development of new medicines for both human and veterinary use. Virtually every medical breakthrough in the 20th century came about as a result of research with animals and many more treatments and cures still await discovery. Transgenic animals having specific characteristics that they otherwise would not have. These animals are contributing to reduce the use of higher animals such as non-human primates. Thus, I foresee the need for even stronger forays by our scientists in this very relevant field of biomedical research.
4. The Wellcome Trust I am told invests over £600 million per annum in biomedical research which is more than the budget of my entire Ministry of Science and Technology. Some of this support goes to fund research that adds to understanding of health and disease that may have no immediate application – medical benefits from which may emerge years later. At the same time, a significant proportion of funding of Wellcome Trust is also invested in technology transfer so that innovations are translated into new health products.
5. On the other side we have DBT, who in the twenty-two years of its existence, in my opinion has done remarkably well in nurturing and growing talent and entrepreneurship in the field of biotechnology. Today, biotechnology is perhaps the fastest growing sector of the Indian economy with a consistent annual growth of around 40% over the past four years which surpasses even the growth rate of the IT sector. I am confident that by the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, that is by 2012, with several public-private partnerships that DBT has mounted, the industry should have a turnover of well over $10 billion.
6. Our roadmap for biotechnology in the near term is guided by the National Biotechnology Development Strategy – the outcome of a marathon two year-long national and international consultations held with the widest cross-section of stakeholders possible, be they students, scientists, entrepreneurs, industrialists, regulators and other Ministries and departments of the government. I am pleased to say that arising out of the ‘Strategy’, the government has inter alia recently approved the establishment of eight overarching research institutions in cutting edge areas of biotechnology where India has great potential strength. Five of these institutions have already been given a ‘go ahead’.
7. We, from our side, are seeking the best available advice and inputs globally to plan and design them. We know that biomedical science today is more ‘technology’ driven than ever. Discovery and innovation can be greatly facilitated if modern tools necessary for scientific enquiry are available to a much larger percentage of the best-of-the-best minds. We have already embarked upon invigorating research and human resource development in a range of colleges, universities and institutes. Today there are around 100 institutions offering programmes in biotechnology of which about one third are in the biomedical area. Also, Dr Bhan and I had been to US, UK and Europe this year to assess the situation whether some of our expatriates would like to return. I am happy to say that we sensed a profound and unprecedented interest and desire from outstanding professionals both of Indian origin and otherwise to help us in our endeavour to establish these world class research institutions. Some of the top notch biotech professionals of Indian origin are even willing to return to India to help us create these institutions.
8. The DBT as a pilot, last year initiated the Ramalingaswamy Re-entry Fellowship scheme for attracting overseas Indians working in life sciences and biotechnology areas, and I am happy to say that we were successful in filling up all the 10 advertized positions. Encouraged by the response, we have now decided to increase the number of Fellowships to 30 this year.
9. I understand that the Trust’s Fellowship programmes brought UK scientists back home in a big way and revamped the biomedical research in Universities. We too hope to get Indians from abroad back, in large numbers to the many new places that are to come up. I am sure the ‘Alliance’ would be of great help to us in this regard.
10. The Trust initiatives helped to completely transform biomedical research in the UK. The scale and depth of the transformation in UK included a major and successful revitalization of human resources. This was as much a consequence of substantial investments as good management. The result has been the extraordinary strong position that UK presently holds in biomedical research. I am thus confident that with our unique population structure and the vast spectrum of diseases, some of them existing only in this part of the world and our strong base in biomedical research, the Alliance can help India make an enormous impact globally too.
11. I am told that funds from the Wellcome Trust have supported several important projects in recent times – the two most notable ones being the Sequencing of the human genome at the Wellcome Trust - Sanger Institute and the Development of the anti-malarial drug artemisinin, both of which have had profound impact globally.
12. While the outcome of Wellcome Trust is reflected in over 3400 high quality papers. The Trust also believes in maximizing the distribution of research papers – by providing free, online access – as the most effective way of ensuring that the research can be accessed, read and built upon. The Wellcome Trust has thus played an important role in encouraging publication of research in open access repositories. In the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), we are mounting a major initiative for Open Source Drug Discovery for TB to begin with; as ten years ago, when the complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was published, there were hopes that the cure for the disease that kills so many persons every day will soon be found. But we have not discovered any new drug against tuberculosis even after knowing the genome sequence. The open source drug discovery programme of CSIR is thus being mounted with the hope that by global efforts we could defeat the scourge. I would request the Wellcome Trust to support and join us in the endeavour as well.
13. Also, to ensure that the Alliance efforts are successful, the DBT is committed to the development and sustenance of world class infrastructure, facilities and the development of attractive research environments by an injection of funds and good management requirements.
14. The task for the Alliance is huge and difficult. Yet with the set of talented and driven people who are taking this forward at the Wellcome Trust and DBT, I am sure that if any team can make this happen it is this TEAM. I am sure the Alliance will succeed in bringing the benefits of biomedical science and research to the service of mankind .
Closing ambit as appropriate.