Sweden offers opportunities in Life Sciences Industry

Mumbai, Feb 12 (UNI) A business delegation representing the Life Sciences industry in Sweden is in the city to participate in a conference on 'Exploring Indo-Swedish Partnership in Life Sciences', organised by FICCI.

The delegation was led by Dr Sanjeevi Caran, Director, Karolinska Institute/Invest in Sweden Agency and Ylva Williams, Director, Invest in Sweden Agency, a release here said.

Welcoming the delegates, Ashok M Kadakia, FICCI-WRC Executive Committee Member &Chairman, Ashok Organic Chemical Industries Ltd, declared that the twentyfirst century would be the century of biology -the entire range of life sciences. He observed that gene therapies, artificial assist devices, individualized medicine, genetic manipulation, new vaccine technologies, tissue engineering of organs are expected to play a crucial role in curing every major conceivable disease, taking over diseased liver and pancreatic functions.

The global life sciences market would be of the order of USD two trillion in the next five years, he added. Listing the strengths of the country in life sciences industry, he pointed out that India had competent doctors, strong nursing skill sets, a resurgent pharmaceutical industry, strong chemistry-based drug discovery capabilities and a growing breed of medical biologists.

Talking about the genomics revolution taking place, Mr Kadakia said genomics and the introduction of specialized technologies throughout the product development chain were transforming the economics of pharmaceutical R&D. He expressed confidence that Swedish companies could partner with Indian life sciences companies in a big way in view of their unique strength in these technologies at every stage of the product development cycle.

UNI