19th Edition of BioAsia Summit Kick-Starts With Focus On Being ‘Future Ready’

Inaugurated by Telangana Minister for Industries and Commerce & IT, KT Rama Rao, the event is taking place virtually between February 24-25 this year

19th Edition of BioAsia Summit Kick-Starts With Focus On Being ‘Future Ready’ (Image: ABP Desam)

New Delhi: The much-awaited BioAsia 2022 summit, that also happens to be the largest Life Sciences and Biotechnology conference in Asia, kick started on Thursday, drawing a huge participation from across the globe.

Inaugurated by Telangana Minister for Industries and Commerce & IT, KT Rama Rao, the event is taking place virtually between February 24-25 this year and has its prime focus on being ‘Future Ready’, aptly themed against the backdrop of the amount of preparedness mankind will need to deal with the future pandemics.

As the annual flagship event of the Government of Telangana, BioAsia ’22 is drawing the attention of the world on the way forward from Covid-19 pandemic and the future of Global Healthcare, Pharma and MedTech.

While inaugurating the conference, KTR said, “BioAsia has been instrumental in showcasing Telangana State Government’s policies, infrastructure, ecosystem and achievements globally, in addition to helping us shape our strategy based on inputs from the industry leaders. The flagship event helps us play a catalytic role in bringing stakeholders together and enabling deliberations on topics of global relevance. I’m immensely proud of the fact that Hyderabad continues to make an indelible imprint in the Life Sciences sector not just in India but also globally.”

“Life Sciences sector in Telangana has attracted investments for over INR 6,400 crores (USD 850+ Million) from about 215 companies and has created additional employment for more than 34,000 people in last one year alone. This is almost 200% more than the investment attracted by the Sector in the previous year. Medical Devices Park also has over 50 companies setting up their manufacturing and R&D units with an overall investment commitment of around Rs 1500 crores and total employment of around 7,000 direct jobs, in addition to about Rs 1500 crores of investment from companies like Medtronic, B-Braun in Hyderabad,” Rao added while sharing the investments attracted by the southern state.

The highlight of Day One of BioAsia 2022 was the Fireside Chat between Bill Gates, Co-founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Co-founder Microsoft, and KTR.

In his plenary address, Geoff Martha, Chairman and CEO of Medtronics, said, “No one company or government can solve the challenges of healthcare alone. We need to harness the power of collaboration. There is a need for an increased investment in healthcare by the government, including infrastructure, training and education, skill development and creating incentives for MedTech innovation. I believe Asia and particularly India has the potential to be a driving force in the global healthcare transformation that we envision. India has the right mix of IT and R&D expertise; and an innovation mindset that strives to deliver solutions and deploy new technologies.”

The inaugural session was followed by first panel discussion on ‘Two years into the pandemic: Challenges, successes and what next?’.

The session discussed the successes and challenges, and how we can benefit from the learnings to shape the future of healthcare. The panelists on the discussion included Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, WHO, Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajesh S Gokhale, Secretary, Dept. of Biotechnology, Government of India, Dr. Peter Piot, EU Chief Scientific Advisor, Dr. Krishna Ella, Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, Ms. Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E Ltd moderated by Dr. Gagandeep Kang, Virologist.

The second panel discussion ‘Pharma and Tech Collaboration: A recipe for success?’ threw light on ‘digital’ and ‘data analytics’ adoption that have accelerated across all industries in the last few years, especially during Covid-19.

It focused on how traditional Life Sciences companies are leveraging technology versus how technology companies are approaching healthcare. The panelists on the discussion were Dr. David Rhew, Global Chief Medical Officer and VP of Healthcare, Microsoft, USA, Mr. Davidek Herron, Global Head of Digital, Roche Group, Switzerland, Mr. Ashwini Mathur, Head Clinical Technology and Innovation, Novartis, Ireland and Mr. Jayesh Ranjan IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce Dept, Government of Telangana moderated the session.

Another panel discussion on the topic of ‘MedTech and HealthTech: challenges and strategic opportunities’ stressed upon the global trends in the Medtech sector and the role India and Asia can play in the global efforts to accelerate medtech growth.

The eminent panel included Mr. Madan R Krishnan, VP & MD, Indian Sub-Continent (South Asia), Medtronic, Mr. Bhargav Kotadia, MD, Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd., Mr. Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD), Mr. Pavan Kumar Mocherla, MD India and South Asia, BD and Mr. Wee Yao Ng, Director, Intercontinental Strategy, Edwards Lifesciences.

During the event, this year’s Genome Valley Excellence Award was presented to Dr Drew Weissman, Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA, recognising his achievement on producing the mRNA vaccine that has been adopted by Pfizer and other major companies.

Shakti Nagappan, Director of Telangana Life-Sciences and CEO, BioAsia, said, “We have made BioAsia 2022 bigger not only by the participation of stalwarts but also by the reach. With over 30,000 participants from over 70 countries, we have truly gone global and look forward to deliver more than what is anticipated in terms of addressing the key issues biotechnology has faced in the recent past and how we can resolve the issues faster with global partnerships.”

Day 2 of BioAsia 2021 would witness keynote speech by Alex Gorsky, Executive Chairman Johnson & Johnson and CEO Conclave with eminent life sciences leaders.

The participants will get to hear more industry leaders during the further panel discussions on Advanced Manufacturing, Quality Focus, and Resilient Supply Chain, Post-pandemic Regulations, Drug Research and Development, among others.

About BioAsia

BioAsia is created with a vision to enhance, enrich and encourage newer innovations, path-breaking discoveries and effective solutions in the biotechnology industry, by offering a vibrant global platform for convergence of the key stakeholders - Biotech &Biopharma Companies, research institutions, academia, investors, service providers, policymakers, regulators, and analysts.

BioAsia is focused in its efforts to drive the growth of the industry by enabling an effective environment for fostering collaborations, JV’s M&A’s; ensure knowledge and experience sharing by global industry players to benefit all stakeholders; promote innovations and initiatives through appropriate awards and recognitions; play a pivotal role in advocating issues to the policymakers and chartering the road-map of biotechnology.

BioAsia is a dynamic platform for companies to exhibit, launch and showcase their unique strengths, products, and services.

BioAsia is playing the role of a key catalyst in mobilising all elements that are required to drive the growth of the emerging industry of Biotechnology as well as optimise the immense business potential of biotech.

On a larger level, BioAsia is working to drive a global transformation from the treatment of illness to wellness.