TS attracts Rs 6,400-cr investments in lifesciences sector last year: KTR
Telangana has attracted investments worth more than Rs 6,400 crore ($850 mllion) from about 215 companies – both existing and new entrants – and has created additional employment for more than 34,000 people in last one year alone, said KT Rama Rao, Minister for Industries & Commerce, IT and MAUD, while virtually inaugurating 19th edition of BioAsia, annual flagship event by Government of Telangana, on Thursday.
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Hyderabad: Telangana has attracted investments worth more than Rs 6,400 crore ($850 mllion) from about 215 companies – both existing and new entrants – and has created additional employment for more than 34,000 people in last one year alone, said KT Rama Rao, Minister for Industries & Commerce, IT and MAUD, while virtually inaugurating 19th edition of BioAsia, annual flagship event by Government of Telangana, on Thursday.
"This is almost 200 per cent more than the investment attracted by the sector in the previous year, which clearly underscores the growing role and impact of Hyderabad's life sciences ecosystem and the State's endeavour to ensure required support to the sector. The city continues to make an indelible imprint in the life sciences sector not just in India but also globally, he said.
He congratulated the recipient of the coveted 'Genome Valley Excellence Award' for the year 2022, Dr Drew Weissman for his pioneering work on mRNA, which ultimately led to the development of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. His contributions are indeed remarkable and helped save millions of lives globally.
"The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on the importance of the life sciences industry and the need to build robust healthcare systems. It is in this context, I believe the theme of this year - 'Future Ready' is extremely timely. As the life sciences industry develops its future growth strategy, it is the right time to assess our current position and deliberate on the imperatives for the future growth," the minister said.
Genome Valley's prominence has been recognized globally in the wake of the pandemic, with most of the country's vaccine manufacturers being from this cluster. It is a matter of immense pride for us that 2 out of the 3 indigenously developed vaccines - Covaxin and Corbevax - are from Hyderabad. Also, both the vaccines which are approved in India for children are from Hyderabad.
Further, Genome valley continues to witness expansion of several pharmaceutical companies. Syngene International, a leading CRO is expanding its operations in the cluster. Further, a Germany-headquartered global leader in pharmaceutical excipient solutions, DFE Pharma, is set to launch their center of excellence named as Closer to the Formulator (C2F). Also, Yapan Bio, which started in Genome Valley, recently saw investment from Piramal Pharma of more than RS 100 crores to continue their expansion in the cluster. Also, companies like Porus Life Sciences, CVR Life Sciences, Dandu Bio Sciences and Laurus Synthesis are investing around Rs 500 crores cumulatively in the cluster.
Similarly, the State of Telangana had identified medical devices as a high-potential, high growth sector, creating immense opportunities, and to our expectations, the sector is growing leaps and bounds. In December, the minister inaugurated seven companies in Medical Devices Park and almost 20 more facilities will be operational in the next six months. The park now has over 50 companies setting up their manufacturing and R&D units with an overall investment commitment of around Rs 1500 crore and total employment of around 7,000 direct jobs, in addition to about Rs 1500 crore of investment from companies like Medtronic, B-Braun and others in Hyderabad, he is hopeful to announce more companies with which the discussions are going on.
"On the pharmaceutical front, we are inching closer to the launch of the world's largest pharmaceutical cluster, Hyderabad Pharma City. The cluster has been planned with the most advanced and efficient utility and environmental infrastructure, with the objective of increasing cost-competitiveness of the industry ultimately making affordable and quality medicines available for the citizens globally. I have personally had an opportunity to interact with experts around the world and I can state, with great pride, that the cluster will truly redefine the landscape of pharmaceuticals and also industrial clusters globally," KTR informed.
"We remain committed to the environment and also promoting sustainable practices. As one of the many steps in this direction, we have set up a multi-industry supported innovation and technology hub for Flow Chemistry in Hyderabad as an initiative aimed towards ensuring greater adoption of greener manufacturing processes," he added.
"BioAsia has been instrumental in showcasing our policies, infrastructure, ecosystem and achievements globally, in addition to helping us shape our strategy based on inputs from the industry leaders. The flagship event helps us play a catalytic role in bringing stakeholders together and enabling deliberations on topics of global relevance."
