FABA confers Dr B S Bajaj Memorial Award to Mahima Datla, Lifetime Achievement Award to B. P. Acharya

Hyderabad: Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA) has announced the recipients of this year’s prestigious FABA Awards, named after Dr. B. S Bajaj last year, for their contributions to the advancement in Biotechnology.

Dr. B. S. Bajaj Memorial FABA Special Award-2022 will be conferred upon Ms. Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E. Ltd for introducing Corbevax vaccine in augmenting the global collective fight against COVID-19 and Mr. B. P. Acharya, IAS, Patron, FABA has been selected for the FABA Lifetime Achievement Award for his notable contributions to AIBA (All India Biotech Associations) and FABA. The awards will be conferred during the 19th edition of BioAsia, the largest annual global Biotechnology and Life Sciences summit of Asia, organised by the Government of Telangana and FABA.

Biological E. Limited (BE), one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, was recognized for the development of CORBEVAX-TM, India’s first indigenously developed protein sub-unit vaccine against COVID-19. CORBEVAX-TM is a recombinant vaccine, developed from the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein on the virus’s surface combined with Dynavax’s CpG 1018 adjuvant with alum, which helps the body build the immune response against the virus.

The Executive Council of Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA) which met on 11th January, 2022 had finalized the recipients of the FABA Awards for the year 2022.

Speaking at the announcement of Dr. B. S. Bajaj Memorial Award, Prof. Reddanna, Executive President, FABA, said, “The Dr. B. S Bajaj Memorial Award is a distinction bestowed on the individual or organization most committed to the advancement of Life Sciences. The contributions made by Biological E under the abled leadership of Ms. Mahima Datla are conscientiously recognized and commended by the biotechnology fraternity. Their vaccine, Corbevax being scalable and affordable to the low-middle income countries, makes Biological E the most promising candidate for this award”.

The conferee of the FABA Lifetime Achievement Award, Mr. B. P. Acharya has been serving as Advisor to ICMR for the National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research (NARFBR) after his retirement from MHRD in 2020. Mr. Acharya coordinated the significant initiatives of Government of Andhra Pradesh to develop Genome Valley and Biotech Sector in the region which made the ‘Bio State of the Year 2003’ Award being presented to erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh in recognition of these initiatives.