A major delegation of Indian life sciences companies spent several days in London and Leeds last week to explore investment and partnership opportunities. Nearly 20 Indian companies from the fields of regenerative medicine, biotechnology, oncology, medical technology and healthcare attended the bioConclave, the leading conference in Europe promoting closer links with India in the sector, on 10th May, and visited the University of Leeds on 11th May.
At the London conference, nearly 150 delegates gathered to hear about opportunities with India. The conference was hosted by MedCity, which promotes the London-Oxford-Cambridge life sciences cluster globally, and supported by University College London and others.
Sakate Khaitan, Senior Partner at Khaitan Legal, said: “There is so much opportunity for the UK and India to be a partners of choice, and this investment is testament to the strong capabilities India is developing.”
In Leeds, companies met with several spinout companies from the University of Leeds and were hosted at a special reception by the Lord Mayor. Specifically, the delegates discussed medical tourism opportunities, the need for advanced data analytics requirements for pharma companies, and how some of the spinout companies could be assisted by Invest India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to break into the Indian market.
Pratik Dattani, Managing Director of consultancy EPG and UK Director of Indian trade promotion agency FICCI, said: “London is a world-leader in raising capital, and Indian companies consider the UK as a springboard for expansion into Europe. It’s important forums such as these, which brings together organisations such as MedCity, One Nucleus, IIT-Delhi and Invest India, are promoted because as we’ve already seen, they provide a great platform for investment deals to be signed.”
Indian Deputy High Commissioner Dr Virander Paul particularly highlighted the strong links between the two nations in the life sciences area following the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to London in November 2015.
One company attending the bioConclave, Global Gene Corp, an innovative R&D genomics company delivering precision medicine in India, announced a strategic collaboration with Imagen Biotech Ltd in Manchester, UK.
Dr Saumya S. Jamuar, Visiting Scientist at Harvard Medical School & Chief Scientific Officer, Global Gene Corp, said, "We are delighted to announce this strategic collaboration, which will deliver cutting‐edge personalised chemotherapy to cancer patients in India. Research has indicated that up to 75% of chemotherapy drugs as a class are ineffective, and our combined proposition of personalised chemotherapy, in which optimal drugs are identified for each patient using specialised testing before treatment is commenced, could have a game‐changing impact."
Dr Anil Wali, Managing Director of IIT-Delhi’s biotech incubator FITT, said: “It is wonderful to be in London for the bioConclave 2016. Forums such as these bring a practical perspective to bringing SMEs, big pharma, innovators and investors together.”
