ABLE to hold BIOINVEST in Mumbai in November

Bangalore, Aug 30 (UNI) The Association of Biotechnology-Led Enterprises (ABLE) will hold a two-day BIOINVEST 2006 conference from November 17 in Mumbai to explore the opportunities for investments and partnering in biotechnology.

The conference would bring together on one platform life science companies, institutional investors and investment bankers, ABLE President Dr K K Narayanan told newspersons here today.

3i, the global private equity player, and ICICI Venture, the oldest, largest and most successful Indian private equity firm, were partnering with ABLE as lead sponsors for the conference.

The conference would have eminent national and international speakers from both the life sciences and the investment community and B2B sessions. Speakers would offer insights into 'Life Science Opportunities in India' and 'Building Life Science Ventures'.

The conference would have focused sessions on Global Investment Trends in Life Sciences and the Opportunity for India, Life Science Investment Models and Strategies and Dynamics of Funding Biotech Ventures from a Venture Capital/Private Equity - Investor's Perspective and would include a panel discussion on Innovation Funding for Indian Biotechnology Sector.

Dr Narayanan, Managing Director of Metahelix Life Sciences, said the sector needed a significant investment over the next four years if it had to grow to US Dollar five billion and be of some reckoning in the global context.

On the current levels of investment in the life science sector, ABLE Founder-President and Biocon Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said ''there is a growing awareness of the investment opportunities in the Indian biotech sector. BIOINVEST aims to create a deeper understanding of what these opportunities are.'' UNI VK GD TS1800