BSV forges collaboration with NCL-Pune to co-develop biopharma products

Mumbai: With the endeavor to promote a research-driven ecosystem in the country, Bharat Serums and Vaccines (BSV) has partnered with the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India.

This collaboration primarily focuses on evaluation of certain recombinant cell line technologies developed by NCL for biopharmaceutical products currently under development at BSV. The technology involves using CRISPR/Cas9 techniques to perform specific modifications of mammalian cell lines to achieve certain desired product quality attributes.

Speaking about the joint initiative, Sanjiv Navangul, Managing Director & CEO, BSV said, “Research remains the DNA of everything we do. NCL has an outstanding track record of research involving partnerships with industry from concept to commercialization.  Through this collaboration, we are delighted to tap some of the best research minds in the country in order to help us bring innovative treatments and cures for patients in India and the world.”

Dr Jaby Jacob, Head- Research & Development, BSV, added, “At BSV, we are driven by science.  As we strive to address the unmet medical needs of patients, we believe that further development of products using the recombinant biopharmaceutical techniques will support treatment of serious conditions and bring improvements in women’s health, fertility, cancer research, among others. We believe such collaborations between research institutes/academia and biopharmaceutical companies will enable R&D groups from both sides to identify and develop projects that ultimately can translate basic research to innovative products.”

Commenting on the development, Dr Ashish Lele, Director, NCL said, “NCL believes in applying the scientific and technological advances achieved at NCL into useful products, in which our industry partners play an essential role. Biotherapeutics is an important part of NCL’s roadmap. We are excited that BSV has chosen to apply one of our fundamental research ideas currently at the proof of concept stage to engineer a recombinant mammalian cell line of relevance to BSV.”