BioAsia 2024: Mega partnership deals steal the show; Telangana CM announces Rs 1 lakh crore investment

Hyderabad: BioAsia 2024, Asia’s largest life-sciences and healthcare conference, in its 21st edition was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Telangana, Revanth Reddy at HICC, Hyderabad.

The three-day event kickstarted with major investment announcements, international partnerships and grand commitments to the industry’s rapid growth.

Chief Guest on the occasion, Revanth Reddy called Hyderabad as the undisputed capital of life sciences in India. “If Covid induced fear, Data and AI in Healthcare signal hope. My government is now undertaking the expansion of Genome Valley across 300 acres of land. Furthermore, we are launching multiple pharma villages with investment of INR 1 lakh crores. This will develop infrastructure, create jobs, entrepreneurs, and generate over 5 lakh new jobs. I am delighted to share that Japan headquartered Takeda is now partnering with Biological E. Furthermore, Germany headquartered Miltenyi announced its grand entry into India at BioAsia 2024,” he said.

Guest of Honour, Minister of IT Telangana, D. Sridhar Babu said, “It is not every day that we see several Fortune 500 companies, accomplished scientific leaders, CEOs, Nobel laureates, researchers, entrepreneurs and the captains of multiple industries. This is possible because of the reputation that BioAsia has built over the last 20 years. Aligned with BioAsia, I had the pleasure of inaugurating Bristol Meyers Squibbs and Providence yesterday – both have very aggressive growth plans. We are also launching a new dynamic life sciences policy for the state which will be a fusion between technology, life sciences, pharma, policy, regulatory agencies.”

Highlights:

• This year’s Genome Valley Excellence Award – one of the most eminent awards in life sciences was awarded to Gregg Semenza – Nobel Laureate & Professor Johns Hopkins, School of Medicine.

• The event also saw the launch of White Paper at BioAsia titled ‘From Volume to Value: Indian Pharma’s transformation from Data to AI’.The event also witnessed the partnership announcement between Takeda and Biological E have, for manufacturing 50 million dosage of dengue vaccines.

• Milteny Biotec announced opening its first office in Hyderabad and investing in first of its kind facility for cell and gene therapy, centre for excellence for Indian academia and industry.

• Terminus Group and Rx Propellant to bring Rs. 2000 crores investment in capital and employment generation of more than 10000 position for development of 3 million sq feet for life sciences support infrastructure.

Shakti Nagappan Director (Life Sciences and Pharma) for the State Government of Telangana delivered the Vote of Thanks. “Over the past 21 years, BioAsia has immensely grown, and I had the privilege to witness it first-hand. This edition of BioAsia stands as the biggest edition of BioAsia, surpassing all previous benchmarks in terms of scale, quality of speakers, registrations and more. The participation of several global CEOs and industry leaders in this forum stands as a testimony to the unparalleled stature of BioAsia today”.

Principal Secretary of the Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments of the Telangana government, Jayesh Ranjan said, “21 years ago, when the event was conceptualised we never imagined it was going to capture the imagination of research community, administrators, regulators, policy makers and now it is the most looked forward to event for the industry in the world for new trends and partnerships. This edition is going to have very important tactical discussions on pressing challenges opportunities, through some of the most eminent speakers are present with us who will share their perspectives.

The first panel discussion on the inaugural day was on ‘Now or never – Pushing the boundaries to become global drug discovery engine’ involving eminent speakers viz., Mr. GV Prasad, Managing Director & Co-Chairman, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories; Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Zydus Cadila; Mr. Toon Overstijns, Managing Director, Chairman of the Board, Miltenyi Biomedicine; Prof. Alan Rowan, Director, Australian institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland; Prof. Rahul Purwar, Associate Professor, IIT Bombay and CEO & Founder, Immuno ACT; Dr. Sanjeev Panchal, Country President & Managing Director, AstraZeneca India; and the session will be moderated by Dr. Ajit Shetty, Chairman VIB (Flemish Institute of Biotechnology), Former Chairman of Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

A second panel discussion on ‘Perception vs. Reality: Navigating India’s IP Landscape in Drug Discovery’ had noted speakers such as Robert Stanley, Global Head Intellectual Property and Legal Innovation, Head Legal, International ad interim, Novartis; Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General, IPA India; Pravin Anand, Managing Partner, Anand and Anand; Mr. Christoph Koenen, Global Head of Clinical Development & Operations, Bayer;Ms. Leena Menghaney, IP Advisor and Head, Medicines Sans Frontiers, South Asia; Taranpreet Lamba, Vice President and Head, Portfolio Planning & IP Litigation, Sun Pharma with moderator being Anju Ghangurde, Executive Editor (Asia Pacific), Scrip.

A CEO Conclave on ‘Geopolitical imperatives to reorganize the global drug supply chains: How did India fare vs. its potential and ambition’ will host prominent speakers such as Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories; Stefan Stoffel, Global Operating Partner, Advent; Dr. Satyanarayana Chava, CEO, Laurus Labs; Meenakshi Nevatia, Country President & Managing Director, Pfizer India; Nandini Piramal, Chairperson, Piramal Pharma Ltd; with the moderator being Ekta Batra, Anchor & Associate Editor Research, CNBC-TV18.

Over the years, the event has immensely benefitted from its participant history including the likes of several Nobel Prize winners, Lasker Awardees and eminent industry leaders like Mr. Bill Gates (Chair, Gates Foundation), Mr. Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft), Mr. Alex Gorsky (Executive Chairman, Johnson & Johnson), Dr. Vas Narasimhan (CEO, Novartis), Mr. Geoff Martha (Chairman & CEO, Medtronic), besides hosting the Country Ministers and Delegates from Asia, America, Africa, and Europe. Being the first edition post pandemic, BioAsia 2023 was extremely successful with the virtual participation of more than 3000 global participants from over 50+ Countries.