Introduction

The rapidly changing economic, trade and intellectual property scenario, nationally and internationally poses many challenges including the challenge of becoming leaders and competitors globally. This necessitates a shift in the approach of pharmaceutical industry to move away from manufacturing only known drugs through innovative process routes to discovering and commercialising new molecules.

The accumulated knowledge of traditional medicinal system and large bio- diversity of our country offer a great advantage to drug industry. However, at present, most of the Indian drug firms, due to their small size compared to international operators, are not in a position to invest in a viable new drug development programme - drug development being a risky, resource intensive & time consuming process. At the same time several Indian academic institutions and national laboratories have established impressive infrastructure and developed excellent expertise in selected areas of drug development. Thus, this is a strong case for industry- institution interaction.

The Programme

Recognising the profound influence of R&D on the prospects and opportunities for the growth of the Indian Drug Industry, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India mounted the programme on drug development during 1994-95 for promoting collaborative R&D in drugs and pharmaceuticals sector with the following specific objectives :

• To synergise the strengths of publicly funded R&D institutions and Indian Pharmaceutical Industry.
• To create an enabling infrastructure, mechanisms and linkages to facilitate new drug development.
• To stimulate skill development of human resources in R&D for drugs and pharmaceuticals; and
• To enhance the nation's self-reliance in drugs and pharmaceuticals especially in areas critical to national health requirements.

Collaborataive R&D Projects

Beneficiaries/Target population:

Any Indian company/firm engaged in drug development manufacturing jointly with:

1. National Laboratory under CSIR, ICMR, etc
2. University Department/other academic institution such as IIT, IISc., etc
3. Any other publicly funded R&D institution

Recognizing the profound influence of R&D on the prospects and opportunities for the growth of the Indian drug industry, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India mounted the programme on drug development during 1994-95 for promoting collaborative R&D in drugs and pharmaceuticals sector with the following specific objectives:

• To synergise the strengths of publicly funded R&D institutions and Indian Pharmaceutical Industry.
• To create an enabling infrastructure, mechanisms and linkages to facilitate new drug development.
• To stimulate skill development of human resources in R&D for drugs and pharmaceuticals; and
• To enhance the nation's self-reliance in drugs and pharmaceuticals especially in areas critical to national health requirements.

Special Features

• Supports research in all systems of medicines both modern and Indian System of Medicine.
• Supports joint research projects of industry and institution
• Normally 50:50 sharing of financial requirements between industry and institution
• Research undertaken by industry is funded 100% by industry
• Institution share is supported jointly by government and industry. Capital expenditure: 100% by government, recurring expenditure: 70% by government and 30% by industry
• DSIR recognition of industry is desirable

Terms and Conditions

 An agreement amongst the collaborating parties specifying the rights and obligations and terms and conditions of the DST grant is essential. The terms and conditions inter-alia include:

1. Ownership of intellectual property generated in the project on agreed term
2. Review of the project by a Monitoring Committee periodically
3. 30% of the recurring expenditure (Institutional component) to be met by the collaborating industry

National Facility Projects

Beneficiaries/Target population:

Leading national laboratories/academic institutions who are having scientific expertise in the field of the facility demanded to cater the needs of pharma industries.

Terms and Conditions:

Basic infrastructure like building will not be considered however specialized structures like cold room, animal house isolation chambers, etc. and other state-of-the-art equipment could be considered. Participation of host institutions by way of sharing of expenditure atleast to the tune of 30% is welcome. After project duration the maintenance of the facility rests with host institution.

Grant-in-aid Projects to Indian Pharma Industries

Beneficiaries/Target population:

Any Indian Pharma Industry including new and small for R & D projects involving clinical trials (Phase-I, II and III) of developing drugs for neglected diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, kala-azar, filariasis, etc.

Formats/Agreements

Format for Submitting R&D Projects Under DPRP

• Collaborative Project35.5 KB
• Facility Project34.5 KB
• Grant in aid to Indian Pharma Industry27 KB

• Collaborative Project59.5 KB
• Facility Project81.5 KB
• Grant in aid to Indian Pharma Industry97 KB