An exclusive interview with a representative of the Indian Tata * Tata offers drug development software to Israeli biotech companies
Experts from Singapore examine medical imaging equipment in the Red Pavilion. Photo: Israel Malovni
The relaxation in the security situation brought to Israel buyers and representatives who locate Israeli companies for cooperation in the biotechnology industries. According to Moshe Lilos, the director of the conference, the event is being held in cooperation with the Ministry of Research and Development, the Export Institute and the Ministry of Education and Culture and the ILSI organization (the Israeli life sciences organization which was born during the previous biotech events and currently numbers about 600 companies in the field of life sciences), which together operate the All the economic annexes of Israel in the world to bring owners to the event. As a result of the activity, several organized delegations came to the conference - 50 people from France, 40 from Italy, 25 from Australia and about 80 from the USA. A delegation from the Ministry of Science from Taiwan, ministers from Luxembourg, Cyprus and Estonia also came, making this year's Biotech an international conference, with all that entails .
As an example of success, Lilos says that in Biotech Israel 2004 the Tata concern from India presented a start-up company called Biostrix belonging to the Red Biomed incubator. The meeting that started at Biotech ended with the Tata company investing 20 million dollars in Biostrix, which of course caused Biostrix to leave the incubator to go independent.
Dr. Mathukumali Vidyasagar, Vice President of Tata Consulting Services at the Indian giant Tata Corporation, told DailyMaily that he was impressed by the success last year, when the visit then was only to explore and know what it was all about, and this time the delegation came with the aim of promoting the company's products to representatives of Israeli biotechnology companies and to representatives from around the world the products that the company offers.
Among other things, Tata offers a software package called Bio Suit that is used for genomic planning and drug development. This software is relatively cheap compared to similar software in the world, so it is suitable for start-up companies and small companies, which do not need to spend large sums to test the molecules they have developed. A second proposal offered by Tata is to conduct a structured drug search (Structure Based Drug Discovery). According to him, India is booming in the field of research and development, and it offers not only low-cost workers but also good researchers.
And in the meantime it was reported at the conference that the Israeli biotechnology industry is not alone in dealing with the difficulties of financing and survival. The global biotechnology industry has lost an amount of 40 billion dollars since its inception in the late 2005s, said Dr. William Rutter, chairman and CEO of Synergenics, at the XNUMX Israeli technologies conference in the fields of biotechnology and medicine held at the David Continental Hotel yesterday.
However, according to him, there are also optimistic signs in the global industry, as evidenced by the fact that the American Food and Drug Organization (FDA) has already approved about 200 biotechnological drugs, and about a thousand new drugs are still awaiting approval in the pipeline.
The Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Ehud Olmert, said at the beginning of the conference that the government has decided to focus efforts and financial resources in the field of biotechnology with the aim of making Israel one of the leading countries in the field in the world, "The government wants to be a partner, and is ready to invest in order to create partnerships with investors and make the industry one from the holdings in the field, as we did in the past with the communication and high-tech industry. Israel has promising potential in the field of biotechnology and there is a strong desire to achieve significant achievements in the field," added Olmert, who, to the audience's disappointment, did not specify the amounts the government plans to invest.
Teva's Vice President for Strategic Planning, Dr. Aharon Schwartz, said that "to date, approximately 500 companies have been established in Israel in the field of life sciences, compared to the 1800 companies that exist in the field throughout Europe", Schwartz serves as the chairman of the conference's steering committee, and according to him, "there Today is an opportunity to attract foreign companies to Israel and establish factories and development centers here."
The Chief Scientist at the TMT Ministry, Eli Ofer, said that he came to the conclusion that it is not possible to advance the Israeli biotechnology industry with a single step that will jump it up a notch. According to him, he intends to advance the industry in small steps, as he has done so far, including the establishment of the incubator in Jerusalem and support for laboratories that will serve the industry According to him, the research committee in his office provides maximum support (50%) to almost all research and development (R&D) projects in the field of biotechnology The professional determines that they deserve support. This is in contrast to the R&D of other branches, which receives support at varying rates of 50%-20% according to criteria of viability for the economy. Ofer added that his office is considering participation in the establishment of laboratories designed to test molecules in the stages of drug development, in the Dalton industrial area in the Galilee. Today these tests are being carried out Mainly in laboratories in Europe, since there are no laboratories for the industry in Israel R&D in Israel by one of the multinational pharmaceutical companies.
