The Indian government and a UK charity are setting up an independent, not-for-profit company to fund the development of drugs and vaccines that specifically address diseases of major public health importance in India. On April 26 India's cabinet approved the joint venture formed by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the London-based Wellcome Trust. The company, called 'R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India, will be launched with a total investment of Rs 3.7 billion ($70.6 million), with each partner contributing equal amounts over the next five years. DBT secretary Maharaj Kishan Bhan says this new initiative is different from the two earlier DBT-Wellcome collaborations: an alliance launched in July 2010 (Nat. Biotechnol. 28, 996; 2010) was intended to support biomedical startups, and the fellowship program, which began in 2008 (Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 1202, 2008) was designed to attract Indian biomedical scientists working abroad back to their homeland. The latest venture will support research projects carried out at Indian public institutions and large biopharma companies. DBT expects to take products into early clinical trials through its newly-created Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in Gurgaon near New Delhi.
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