18th edition of BioAsia 2020 concludes with huge participation of global leaders and audience  

Hyderabad: BioAsia, Asia’s largest Biotechnology and Life Sciences Forum and the 2-day global bio-business convention on its second and last day on Tuesday concluded with a huge participation from Industry, Government, general public, and being part of the insightful deliberations and discussions focussing on COVID-19; Challenges, opportunities and learning for the global life sciences community. The 18th edition of the annual flagship event of Government of Telangana, BioAsia, has witnessed the participation of around 31,450 participants representing 72 countries. More than 60 high profile speakers also participated in this summit.
 
The FABA Special Award was presented to Dr. Balram Bhargava, Secretary to Government of India, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare & Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research for his exemplary contributions to medicine and healthcare. He was felicitated for spearheading the fight against COVID-19 in India and also commencing several extraordinary marquee projects such as India-Stanford Biodesign programme, c-GMP Centre for Excellence for Stem Cell Studies, Society for Less Investigative Medicine (SLIM) and many more. He has pioneered the development of indigenous low-cost coronary stents that have benefited several thousand patients.
 
During the valedictory session of BioAsia 2020, Mr Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries and IT, Government of Telangana said, “We are happy to conclude BioAsia 2021 today on a high note with the humungous participation of 31,450 participants from 72 countries. Since this edition was virtual and the theme of the event was very contextual to the current scenario, hence, we didn’t restrict the conference open only to the life sciences professionals but made these sessions available for the general public without any registration fee. The sessions covered the current situation of vaccines, the impact of COVID-19 on various healthcare services, and the way forward were very extremely well encapsulated by 60 eminent speakers during these 2 days. We are sure that the public at large has also benefitted by hearing the experts on the most prominent topic around these days impacting the life of each one of us. On the whole, BioAsia 2021 in these 2 days was successful in addressing the issues and demands of the industry particularly as the world is walking a perilous path to fight once of the most challenging health crisis.”
 
Commenting on the successful completion of BioAsia 2021, Mr. Shakthi Nagappan, CEO, BioAsia and Director, Telangana Life Sciences said, “Despite the pandemic, we strived to ensure that the 17 years long legacy of BioAsia continues. The first virtual BioAsia was well received by the global community due to our strong focus on the pandemic and the steller speaker line up, we were able to bring to deliberate on the topics impacting every individual.”
 
Feedback received from various countries have been encouraging. Based on the requests from various regions, who couldn’t join the live streaming and keeping in view the larger impact, it has been decided to make the deliberations of BioAsia available for public viewing in the BioAsia youtube channel.
The highlight of the day was a Fireside Chat #Charcha2021: Healthcare to ‘Hit Refresh’ between Mr. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft and Mr. KT Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Industries & Commerce, Government of Telangana which deliberated on the technology impacting the healthcare industry with the global leader. Mr. Satya Nadella stated that, “the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation across the board. We became the digital first responders to all the first responders out there”.
 
Another, important session of the day was the CEO Conclave: Pursuit of Innovation - From 'Pharmacy of the World' to 'Global Life Sciences innovation hub. The session was focused on the how post India establishing its leadership in the generics market, now how it can replicate the success in the 'complex generics' and 'biosimilars' market. The high-profile panel included Mr. KT Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Industries & Commerce, Government of Telangana, Mr. Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, Government of India, Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon, Dr. Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson, Piramal Group, Mr. Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin Ltd. and Mr. Sriram Shrinivasan, India Life Sciences Leader, EY. Ms. Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 moderated the session.
 
Day 2 commences with the Keynote Address by Mr. Sanat Chattopadhyay, Executive Vice President & President, Merck Manufacturing Division. He elaborated on how Merck is moving the needle by building resilient supply chain capabilities. He explained how capabilities that were built before the pandemic helped the world navigate the situations during the pandemic. He said that “the SARS COVID is only a microorganism, yet it has got all humanity to its knees. However, with the advent of therapies, this disease van be conquered".
 
The panel discussion on the topic of Medical Technologies – The next big opportunity for India focused on looking into strategies to be adopted to accelerate India from being primary imports to large scale exporters. This panelists including Mr. Jayesh Ranjan IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce Dept., Government of Telangana, Dr. S Eswara Reddy, Joint Drugs Controller, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, Mr. Madan R Krishnan, Vice President and Managing Director, Medtronic India, Mr. Suresh Vazirani, Chairman and Managing Director, Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd., Dr. Shravan Subramanyam, President & CEO, GE Healthcare India & South Asia, Mr. Bhargav Kotadia, Managing Director, SMT and Mr. Rajiv Nath, Managing Director, Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd & Forum Coordinator, AiMeD deliberated on the current position and future potential of India MedTech sector.
 
In another Keynote Address on Creating unicorns, Mr. George Bickerstaff, Co-founder and Managing Director, M.M. Dillon & Co., Former CFO, Novartis and Dr. Jo Bury, CEO, VIB focused on growing importance of Innovating and delved deeper into the intersection of healthcare, technology and finance .They also stressed upon the role of start-ups in healthcare sector, the means of financing R&D and the power of collaboration.
 
Mr. Ronald Piervincenzi, CEO, United States Pharmacopeia in his special address shared his insights on medical supply chain vulnerabilities. He stated that, “Strengthening of regulatory ability to conduct Quality Assurance would mean more diversity in supply chain and hence the overall system becomes stronger.”
 
In a Coffee Table Conversation between Dr. Andrew Plump, President R&D, Takeda and Dr. Lutz Hegemann, Group Head of Corporate Affairs and Global Health, Novartis spoke on Reimagining R&D post COVID – Collaboration, Data and Repurposing.