Genome Valley to have incubator for startups working on vaccines

HYDERABAD: A first-of-its-kind incubator, dedicated to startups focused on the development of vaccines, will be coming up at the Genome Valley near the city. Hyderabad produces 33 percent of global vaccine dosages.This was disclosed by state IT and industry minister KT Rama Rao at the inaugural of BioAsia-2018 here on Thursday. BioAsia-2018 is being attended by 1,500 delegates from 55 countries.

Prof Michael N Hall of the University of Basel was awarded the Genome Valley excellence award for the discovery of nutrient-activated TOR proteins and their central role in the metabolic control of cell growth. Telangana currently produces 35 percent of the drugs manufactured in India and the state government plans to raise the production level. The Genome Valley cluster will be expanded and formulation of an integrated master plan for the cluster will be immediately initiated so as to mark the beginning of ‘Genome Valley 2.0’. The Genome Valley, which started in 1999, is now home to more than 200 companies with approximately 10,000 scientific and technical workforce, the minister said.

Rama Rao also announced that Genome Valley was accorded the status of Industrial Area Local Authority (IALA), which had been promised at the last BioAsia summit. The IALA status will enable single-point administration of the cluster, allowing companies in Genome Valley a single point of contact for all government-related approvals.

He also announced that the state government was working closely with central government to accelerate the establishment of the country’s largest animal resources facility.  Rao said the government aimed to create four lakh jobs in the next few years in the life science industry by doubling investments in the sector from the present $50 billion.