17th edition of BioAsia 2020 kicks off with the theme, ‘Today for Tomorrow’

Hyderabad: One of Asia’s largest life sciences and biotechnology convention – BioAsia 2020 kicked off on 17th February in the presence of stalwarts from life sciences, biotechnology, pharma, and healthcare industries in India and abroad. The 17th edition of the three-day global forum is being held from 17th to 19th February at Hyderabad was inaugurated by Mr KT Rama Rao, Minister for Industries and commerce & IT, Government of Telangana.

With the theme of ‘Today for Tomorrow’, the annual flagship event of Government of Telangana, BioAsia, is focusing on how innovations and technological disruptions are re-shaping the global life sciences sector.

While inaugurating the summit, Mr KT Ramarao, Minister for Industries and commerce & IT, Government of Telangana said, “Hyderabad, with its surrounding districts, is India’s largest pharmaceuticals hub, which accounts for about one-third of total country’s pharma production and exports. We are further committed to developing Hyderabad as one of the key global Research and Development (R&D) hubs and the results are clearly visible now as the city today serves over 1,000 global innovators in their vision to develop innovative and affordable pharmaceutical products. Various Indian and global companies including Sanofi, Novartis etc. have their significant footprint here and are constantly expanding their operations including R&D and digital support services. Within a span of 2 years, over 20 companies are expected to set up their manufacturing units and R&D centres in the Medical Devices Park”.

During his speech, Mr KT Rama Rao also stated that, while Syngene which has setup its first phase of R&D facility invested Rs 170 Crore,  Biological E, a Hyderabad based vaccine maker has also inaugurated its Rs 300 Crore facility with a potential of creating 1,000 new jobs in Genome Valley, as part of BioAsia. He also said that the Government of Telangana was looking at taking the Telangana’s combined enterprise value $50 billion to $100 billion and create 4,00,000 new jobs in the state. The state is also going to setup a B-Hub, biotechnology hub in the next 2 months and Curative Therapy Institute with the support of CCMB for cell gene research. Hon’ble Minister invited the industrialists to come and explore the opportunities that the state government of Telangana is creating for them at the new Pharma City, world’s largest pharma cluster which will be operational shortly as it has got almost all of the approvals it required from the government of India.

Followed by the inaugural ceremony, KT Rama Rao also inaugurated the international exhibition wherein 160 organizations are exhibiting their innovations and developments from the fields of medtech, pharma, biotech and healthcare over the 3 days.

During the inaugural ceremony, the organizing committee of BioAsia 2020 has bestowed the prestigious Genome Valley Excellence Award 2020 to Dr Carl H June, the Pioneer of CAR-T Cell therapy for Cancer treatment and the Professor of Richard W Vague in Immunotherapy, Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA. This award has been presented to Dr June for his exemplary contributions to the global life sciences industry.

The 17^th edition of BioAsia has received an overwhelming response across the globe and over 2,000 delegates from Industry, Government, Scientist Community, Academia and Start-ups representing 37 countries are participating in the global bio-business event. About 800 corporates in which about 350 CXO level officers and about 100 eminent global speakers are also being participated. BioAsia 2020 is all set to host eminent global leaders from the life sciences industry including Mr Vas Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis, Dr Carl H June, CAR-T Pioneer, Dr Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Co-Discoverer of Ebola, Mr Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group, Mr Dilip Shanghvi, Chairman, Sun Pharma, Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon, Mr Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, among others.

Explaining the significance of the global conclave, Mr Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries and IT, Government of Telangana said, “BioAsia is an excellent global bio business forum for companies in life sciences, biotechnology, pharma and healthcare industries, academia and start-ups to showcase their innovations and network for better connections. Over the years, it has been instrumental in promoting India and Telangana as a key enabler in the global life sciences and allied sectors”. During the event, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by Dr Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Mr Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce & IT, Government of Telangana.

Commenting on Indo-Swiss partnership, Dr Andreas Baum, Ambassador of Switzerland to India said, “India is one of the priority countries for Switzerland when it comes to innovation and science. We have several ongoing collaborations, thanks to the initiatives by the Swiss Business Hub, Swissnex India and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. I look forward to seeing the network of innovators and the exchange of ideas between our two countries grow even stronger, through platforms like BioAsia. Many congratulations to the Government of Telangana for their sustained efforts towards ensuring that Hyderabad continues to be one of India’s leading innovation hubs.”

Commenting on the key aspects of BioAsia 2020, Mr Shakthi Nagappan, CEO, BioAsia and Director, Life Sciences, Government of Telangana said, “We are so excited to see the overwhelming response from the global delegates who have come in large numbers. Especially, more than 350 CXO level officials are attending the global convention is a testimony of BioAsia whose stature is being upgraded year after year. In its journey of 17 years, BioAsia has emerged as one of the finest global bio-business fora for innovations and developments in the fields of Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences”.

The global consulting firm – Ernst & Young (E&Y) on the inaugural day of BioAsia 2020 has unveiled its exclusive report on Life Sciences industry at BioAsia –  “Today for tomorrow: realizing the potential of Life Sciences 4.0” – in which it explained how Indian pharma companies are preparing themselves to shift from supplying commodities to supplying innovations, technology is altering the way health care is imagined and delivered. The EY report explores a practical approach to design a digital strategy that meets the business needs today and is agile to address evolving industry and organizational needs tomorrow.

WeHub and University of Basel also signed an MOU at BioAisa 2020 to promote women in leadership roles and women entrepreneurship, as well as on innovation ecosystem engagement. This was facilitated by Swissnex India as part of Switzerland’s continuous engagement with the government of Telangana.