(L-R) Hari Bhartia, advisory board member & co-chairman, Jubilant Life Sciences; Karun Rishi, president, USA-India Chamber of Commerce; KV Subramaniam, advisory board member & CEO, Reliance Life Sciences; Dr Mikael Dolsten, global head R&D, Pfizer

The USA-India Chamber of Commerce (USAIC) is set to organize its annual US-India BioPharma & Healthcare Summit on June 23, 2011, at Hyatt Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The event will highlight India's potential to become a hub of innovation in the biopharma sector.
The summit will focus on overcoming the barriers to building collaborative partnerships between the Indian and global companies. Panel discussions and keynotes will cover drug discovery and development, restructuring R&D to maximize productivity and innovation, pre-competitive alliances, industry-academia partnerships, clinical research, funding innovation and cross border M&A trends. A specific panel on diabetes will discuss the science, research trends, investments and market opportunities associated with the disease.

“Our annual Summit is a purpose driven initiative designed to foster innovation and partnerships in the global biopharma industry”, said Mr Karun Rishi, president of the USA-India Chamber of Commerce. We want to integrate India into the global drug discovery and development process. According to Mr Rishi, “how can India fit into this evolving strategy and how can sustainable innovation be achieved?” is the question the Summit is trying to answer.

Dr Mikael Dolsten, global head of R&D, Pfizer, and an advisory board member added, “Biopharma and biotech companies have a strong interest in the continued growth of India's innovative drug research industry–to improve public health in India and the world. Pfizer has a global network of academic alliances and strategic partnerships, including collaborations with several Indian biopharma companies and CROs, to accelerate our delivery of differentiated medicines. This summit, organized by the USA-India Chamber of Commerce, will connect companies with high quality drug designers and developers in India, which will be valuable to the industry and to patients.”

“For the last five years, I have observed the annual US-India BioPharma & Healthcare Summit play a significant role in forging partnerships between the global biopharma and Indian companies. USAIC has been able to involve and engage several global biopharma R&D leaders and key stakeholders to foster innovation. These interactions have led to innovative business ideas, new partnerships and business,” said Mr Hari Bhartia, an advisory board member and co-chairman of Jubilant Life Sciences.

He further said, “encourage the active participation of my global biopharma colleagues to help innovate and discover new novel therapeutics.”

“The innovation-driven ecosystem fostered by the USA-India Chamber of Commerce has led to meaningful research and technology partnerships between global and Indian companies. I have been involved with this platform for the last few years and it is a great feeling to see it evolve as the Summit of choice for global research, technology leaders and investors”, said Mr KV Subramaniam, advisory board member and CEO of Reliance Life Sciences. “I look forward to continuity of dialogue and constructive discussions with my fellow global colleagues to help foster innovation in biopharmaceuticals,” he added.

Srikant Jena, Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, said in a statement that, “For the last few years, USAIC has given Department of Pharmaceuticals constructive suggestions to foster innovation in pharma R&D and create several industry-academia partnerships. I look forward to receiving recommendations deliberated at the annual Summit.”