And the winner is....
HiMedia receives the “BIRAC INNOVATOR OF AWARD 2020” in recognition of its innovation achievement for “Designing & commercialization of affordable chemically defined serum free media & feed for high value biosimilars manufacture”.
A biosimilar is a product-analogue; a very similar product of an approved biopharmaceutical (biologic medical product). In contrast to classical generics (drugs with a defined molecular structure), the active ingredients in biosimilar are not completely identical to the original active ingredient due to biotechnological production.
One of the reasons for this fact is that the target molecules (proteins) are produced (“expressed”) in different organisms and the subsequent processing steps (such as isolation and purification) vary.
Although certain product differences are tolerated, a biosimilar must of course have no clinically relevant differences from the original drug and must meet equivalent safety and potency requirements. Therefore, the approval procedures and monitoring measures of biosimilars are significantly more complex than those of classical generics.
The decision was made by an expert jury appointed by the Secretary of DBT (Department of Biotechnology) and the Chairman of BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council). The award was received during “Global Bio – India 2021”, which was held on March 1-3, 2021.
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council(BIRAC) is a non-profit working in the public sector (Section 8, Schedule B) in India. It was established by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India as to assist emerging biotech companies to conduct strategic research and innovation while addressing nationally relevant product development needs.
Vision: “To Stimulate, foster and enhance the strategic research and innovation capabilities of the Indian biotech industry, particularly start-ups and SME’s, for creation of affordable products addressing the needs of the largest section of society”
BIRAC is an interface between industry and academia, implementing its mandate through a wide range of initiatives aimed at helping biotech companies achieve innovative excellence and global competitiveness. In its eight years of existence, BIRAC has initiated programs, networks and platforms to bridge existing gaps in industry-academia innovation research and facilitate the development of novel, high-quality and affordable products through cutting-edge technologies.
Source: https://birac.nic.in/index.php
And this is what HiMedia has to say about its award-winning work:
“Designing cost effective and chemically defined serum free media (CDSFM) having hundreds of components is a gigantic task. The need to be indigenous in this range of products is a prime step to become “Atmanirbhar” (self-reliant, Author’s note) in the protein therapeutics business, which is worth several billion dollars. HiMedia took up this herculean challenge, coupled with its legacy of innovation, worked on various formulations, advanced instruments, and softwares along with a brilliant team of scientists from HiMedia and Institute of Chemical Technology. HiMedia has developed novel and cost effective CDSFM and feeds for Biosimilars production thereby becoming the only Indian company that manufactures clone specific customized CDSFM.”
