DST selects five companies for R&D fund disbursement

Jayashree Padmini - New Delhi

Although the Rs 150-crore R&D fund is yet to reflect in its account, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has identified at least five companies who have sought for loan under the Drug Development Fund scheme. The DST, which manages the R&D fund envisages to disburse around Rs nine crore this year to industry as financial assistance for R&D projects.

Dabur Pharma India which was selected last year for receiving Rs 3.75 crore support will get Rs two crore this year, informed sources said. The five other companies selected during the recent PRDSF meeting include Intas Pharma, Ahmedabad; Surya Pharma, Varanasi; Biological Evans, Hyderabad; Dalmia Center for Research, Coimbatore and Promed Exports, New Delhi.

The Finance Minister has proposed in the Union Budget 2005-06 to enhance the R&D fund for pharma in phases and allot more funds for the sector. However, the extend of enhancement is not clear. Although the government has allotted money to DST the fund is yet to go fully operational. The project of Dabur Pharma which was selected for funding under the programme last year is yet to receive the first disbursement.

According to sources, the department is yet to frame the guidelines for extending loan to industry and the recovery clause is ambiguous. There appears to exist a write-off clause which some of the government bodies are not willing to allow, because this will lead to industry not paying back the loan. In a recent meeting it is also suggested that the money should not be used for infrastructure development, but only in R&D work, consumables, etc. They have also raised an argument that some of the companies selected did not have enough paid-up capital to claim loans in crore and recovery will be difficult.

Under the PRDSF programme, the department has selected a few industry-academia collaborative projects for funding in the current financial year, informed official sources. Most significantly, in view of the changed IPR regime and the increased R&D activities the department has decided to develop a National Facility for Regulatory Pharmacology. The centre at an investment of Rs five crore is coming up at the Central Drug Research Laboratory, Lucknow.

The facility is aspired to be state-of-the-art GLP accredited lab matching international specifications and using modern tools to offer services to both national and international players. DST will fund about 75 per cent in the next three years and the rest will come from the Center for Scientific and Industrial Research. Ranbaxy Laboratories-NCL Pune joint project on anti-bacterial agents and Zydus Research Center-IICT Hyderabad project on NCEs with anti-microbial activities will receive funds from DST. The projects estimated at Rs one crore and Rs 1.5 crore respectively for three years will get about 40 per cent of the amount from DST programme.

DST is also supporting the Rs one crore Siddha medicine project on heart disorders by Sastra Deemed University, Tanjore and Orchid Chemicals, Chennai. The Rs one crore collaborative project by JNCSR, Bangalore and Microtests Innovations Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, to develop HIV diagnostics kits will also be funded under the PRDSF programme. These projects are of three years duration each where DST will extend 40 per cent of the total estimated budget and the rest will be pumped in by the industry player.