There is need for more research on diabetes, according to S. Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.
Speaking after inaugurating the Centre for Disease Biology at Dr Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences here on Saturday, the Minister said more research was needed on what made Indians more prone to the lifestyle condition.
Referring to drug research, Reddy said public sector institutes such as the erstwhile Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) have made significant contributions.
He also lauded the contribution made by the Late K. Anji Reddy, founder-chairman of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories .
K. Satish Reddy, Vice-Chairman and MD of Dr Reddy’s said his company would continue to support the Institute which was set up as a public-private partnership.
Javed Iqbal, Executive Director, DRILS said, the institute was driving research without any corpus since its inception in 2007.
Uday Saxena, Chief Advisor of Kareus Therapeutics and professor at DRILS said with 66 million suffering from diabetes, India was the most affected, followed by China with 23.8 million patients.
The centre, which will focus on diabetes research, would aim to understand the genetic, lifestyle and nutritional pre-dispositions of the Indian population, and disease pathobiology of diabetes.