India announces ₹10000cr Biopharma SHAKTI scheme to boost biologics
Big news from the Union Budget: India is putting ₹10,000 crore into its biopharma sector through the new Biopharma SHAKTI scheme.
The goal? To help scientists and startups create advanced medicines from living cells (biologics), making India a bigger player in cutting-edge healthcare.
Plan funds 1,000 clinical trial centers
This five-year plan will fund research, speed up drug testing, and set up 1,000 clinical trial centers across the country.
It's also bringing together universities and industry to turn ideas into real treatments for diseases like diabetes and cancer.
As Shreehas Tambe, chief executive and managing director of Biocon Ltd, put it, the scheme addresses key gaps across India's biologics and biosimilars value chain, from expanding the development pipeline and clinical-trial infrastructure to improving regulation and workforce skills.