The Health Ministry is planning to allocate Rs 700 crore fund to set up seven Centres of Excellence across various National Institutes of Pharmaceutical, Education & Research (NIPER). Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya has said that Rs 4,250 crore will be allocated to drive research initiatives by the private sector across pharma and medical technology segments.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Promotion of Research & Innovation in Pharma-MedTech sector (PRIP) scheme with an outlay of Rs 5,000 crore for five years, from 2023-24 to 2027-28, as infomed by the Minister. The scheme will comprise two parts: preparing capacity in PSUs, and providing support to the private sector for research. The scheme will be formally launched in September.

The research focus at NIPERs in Mohali, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Rae Bareli, Guwahati, Hajipur and Kolkata will be in areas including anti-viral and anti-bacterial drug discovery and development, medical device making, R&D in bulk drugs, phytopharmaceuticals and others. In Kolkata, the key capability would involve developing manufacturing practices such as modern continuous flow chemistry technology.

Another component aimed at the private sector includes development of new chemical entity, precision medicines (used in stem cell technology and gene therapy), medical devices (leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), research on anti-microbial resistance and others.

In funding, nine established pharma companies across these areas will be financially supported with 35 percent of the total cost (upto Rs 125 crore per project for five years). Research will be across technology readiness levels (TRL) one to nine (between initial conceptualisation and clinical testing), and the total allocation would be Rs 1,125 crore.

Another 30 companies would be supported, at proof of concept (POC) level and clinical testing levels, with a maximum grant of Rs 100 crore per project during the scheme period. Moreover, Rs one crore worth of financial support would be extended across 125 research projects, focusing on the MSMEs. Total outlay for this would be Rs 3,125 crore.