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Time of India
03-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Make cell and gene therapy more affordable: PSA tells experts
BENGALURU: As innovations in cell and gene therapies have taken root in India, Ajay K Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor, Govt of India, reminded scientists and innovators in Bengaluru, on Thursday, that efforts should be made to make these therapies affordable. The govt is also looking at a national mission that drives this affordability. Talking to experts at the India AMR innovation workshop at CCAMP in Bengaluru, Sood said, "Very often we see cell and gene therapies, which all of you are experts in, and if you look at the cost, that is really something which is not affordable in most countries — even in other developed countries. If you have to really make these therapies accessible, a large effort is needed. Innovations are taking place in isolated pockets, but the effort has to be amplified. " Sood, who also chairs the Prime Minister Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council, told TOI: 'Cell and gene therapy was discussed extensively in the recent meeting where we bring out various issues which have to be raised to the level of a mission. You Can Also Check: Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru We all felt it has to be a multi-ministerial effort, and we will need resources for that — it will be made into a mission — 'a cell and gene therapy mission'. The idea is how do we really make affordable cell and gene therapy products. While research is going on in a few labs and institutes, lots has to be done to take it to the market.' He added, 'First, you need the science and technology to make those molecules. After that, it has to be at scale to bring down the cost. One needs a holistic view that they are not only doing it for the country but for the globe. Both things have to go hand in hand.' 'We have to create a way to make our own chemicals. Unless we make that, we cannot reduce the cost. So that has to be, that is what is being done in this, at least in the IIT Bombay, and we will do in the mission,' he said. He added that therapy like 'ImmunoACT (the CAR-T cell therapy) is heavily supported by govt with initial funding from DBT, ICMR, and DST. How they take it to further reduce the cost is where all the private factors will come in, and they are already coming in.' Quantum Computing in drug discovery Meanwhile, Sood also believed that one can't avoid the use of quantum computing in biological sciences — "Billions of dollars are pouring in on drug discovery using quantum computing. That will be a game changer because all those huge permutation combinations will be so trivially done in quantum computing. This is really the future along with materials discovery and so on.' Antimicrobial resistance Talking about antimicrobial resistance being a prevalent issue, Ekroop Caur, Secretary, IT, BT, ST department, said, "Even though we may not take antibiotics or we may not misuse antibiotics, we are still affected by it — because what happens in the animal world and plant world will have an impact on us. This also calls for very strong pharmaceutical regulations, which is part of Karnataka's AMR action plan formulated in 2024." Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, CCAMP, pointed out the risk of nearly 10 million people dying annually from AMR — "I don't think one can step back and say we will look at it when it happens. I think collectively all of us are here to say how much I can take down from the 10 million.'
Time of India
29-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bengaluru: 9 innovators selected to combat antimicrobial resistance in environmental settings
Bengaluru: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms ( CCAMP ), in collaboration with the UK department of health and social care's Global AMR Innovation Fund ( GAMRIF ), announced nine winners of its AMR Challenge 2024-25 . This initiative aims to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in environmental settings . Launched in Aug 2024 under the India AMR Innovation Hub, the challenge received nearly 200 applications from startups and innovators across India. The selected winners will receive funding and ecosystem support to help scale, produce, adopt, and socially integrate their solutions. You Can Also Check: Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru Taslimarif Saiyed, director and CEO of C-CAMP, said the winning innovations address critical challenges in AMR, including point-of-care diagnostics, pathogen screening in farm, fishery, and hospital runoff, wastewater treatment, industry effluent management, and air decontamination in hospital settings. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 2025 Top Trending local enterprise accounting software [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo By 2050, deaths associated with AMR are projected to rise to 10 million annually worldwide. Key contributors include climate change, antimicrobial misuse across the food and agriculture industries, and antimicrobial pollution due to poor waste management practices. "The GAMRIF-CCAMP partnership aims to develop contextual solutions specifically for low and middle-income countries (LMICs) to help bend the AMR curve in environmental settings. This collaboration positions CCAMP alongside major global AMR stakeholders in GAMRIF's funding portfolio, such as Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARBX) and Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP)," a statement issued here read. The Winners: ■ Indian Institute of Science (IISc): MONZymes-based technology for degrading residual antibiotics from effluent wastewater through advanced (photo)catalytic activity. ■ Foundation for Neglected Diseases Research (FNDR): A cartridge-based device with a patented mixture of activated charcoal and plant-based materials to deplete antimicrobial residues from wastewater. ■ Biomoneta Research Pvt Ltd: qAMI (Quantitative Airborne Microbial Index), combining detection of airborne total microbial load and pathogenic microbes in hospital settings using an AI/ML platform. ■ DNOME Pvt Ltd: A pocket PCR device for rapid on-field detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes in aquaculture farms and wastewater sources. ■ Vividew Innovations Pvt Ltd: A novel combination of membrane filtration and advanced photocatalytic oxidation to remove residual antibiotics and resistant bacteria from hospital sewage treatment plants. ■ Diagopreutic Pvt Ltd: A colorimetric method for detecting residual antibiotics and pathogen identification in aquaculture farm effluents, based on differential nitroreductase activity. ■ Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt Ltd: Rapid pathogen detection from wastewater using in-house nucleic acid extraction and multiplexed quantitative RT-PCR technology.
