Telangana government will work on a programme to position Hyderabad as the “Health Tech Mecca’‘ of the world, said Telangana Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao.
“Through our various incubator programmes, and access to deep computing resources, we will actively support start-ups that drive the convergence of healthcare and technology,” he said while speaking at the inaugural session of the 20th edition of BioAsia, the flagship pharma-life sciences conference of the State.
“I am confident that we will have a few global Heath Tech unicorns that will emerge out of this programme,” Rao added.
The total value of pharma and life sciences ecosystem in Telangana has touched $80 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $30 billion by 2025.
“This represents a phenomenal ecosystem value growth in Telangana at 23 per cent over the last two years compared to the national average of about 14 per cent,’‘ Rao said.
“Given the current momentum, I am confident that we will achieve our target of $100 billion by 2025 itself, five years ahead of schedule,” the Minister said.
The State attracted more than $3 billion in investments over the last seven years, resulting in the creation of more than 4.5 lakh jobs.
Telangana contributes 40 per cent of India’s pharma production and is home to more than 1,000 life sciences companies and we are growing. It is the only region in the world to have more than 200 FDA approved sites for pharmaceutical manufacturing which produce both innovator and generic medicines, the Minister said.
“With our vision to develop, promote and propagate an enabling ecosystem, we are proud to state that Hyderabad is the only city in the country that has an ever-growing Genome Valley, an expanding Medtech Park and an upcoming Pharma City, which will be the world’s largest,’‘ Rao said.
This state-of-the-art infrastructure, combined with progressive policies and proactive execution on the part of the government, not only made the state progressive, but also enhanced its share and contribution to positive health outcomes nationally and globally, he added.
Describing BioAsia as ‘national biotech’ event, VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, said the pharma and life sciences industry rose to the occasion during the Covid-19 pandemic and gave more than 2.2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines and a huge number of other Covid-19 drugs such as remedevisir.
The regulatory system, government machinery and industry worked hard, Paul said, adding that the Centre is working on various measures to further boost the pharma and life sciences industry, including a new bill on drugs and cosmetics.
BioAsia 2023
During the G20 presidency of India, both the country and world could achieve progress in healthcare for all with affordable medicines and development of digital health, he added.
Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary-Industries, Government of Telangana, said the 20th edition of BioAsia attracted a record number of over 2,000 registrations with representatives from across 50 countries.
“The start-up showcase is a special event and there will be a competition,’‘ he said.
The UK is the country partner for the three-day BioAsia 2023, while Flanders region of Belgium is International Region Partner.