Prior to the pandemic, innovation in biotechnology was somewhat limited. The pandemic has extended the frontiers of innovation in relatively new areas such as gene therapy and vaccine therapy. The vaccine industry has been scaled up to cater to the Indian population.
“Now the time has come to build on the vaccine production. The vaccine industry may have to prepare for forthcoming requirements like reuse-ables. It’s time to look at the entire chain including the various components, re-agents and enzymes that go into the making of diagnostics,” said Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, executive chairperson and founder, Biocon, speaking at the CII Life Sciences Conclave 2021. Such aspects probably need to be indigenised in order to maintain the flow of the supply chain.
Pre-pandemic, the thrust was towards children’s regular vaccines. Now it’s more specifically about Covid vaccines for children. The Covid vaccines, which are made in India, have been administered to...