Hyderabad, Aug 5 (IANS): Pharma major Dr Reddy's Chairman Satish Reddy will head Telangana's Life Sciences Advisory Committee, which serves as a structured interface between the government, industry and academia.
The state government has reconstituted the committee with members of industry and academia with a term of two years.
Mahima Datla, Managing Director of Biological E, will be the Vice Chairman and the Director, Life Sciences, Telangana will be convener of the committee.
Industries Minister K. T. Rama Rao on Wednesday chaired the first meeting of the reconstituted committee.
The panel was first formed in 2016 under the chairmanship of Prof. D. Balasubramian, Director Emeritus (Research), L.V. Prasad Eye Institute and Satish Reddy as the Vice Chairman.
The committee advised the government on aspects like measures to improve Ease of Doing Business (EODB), specific to the life sciences sector, which were successfully implemented. Further, it supported the planning of Hyderabad Pharma City, the organisation of BioAsia, the state's flagship event and various other initiatives, said an official statement.
The reconstituted committee consists of officials from the Industries Department, leaders from industry and research institute covering pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and digital health.
"It is our vision to grow the life sciences industry from $50 billion to $100 billion and create 400,000 new jobs in this decade," Rama Rao said.
Briefing on the efforts already undertaken by the state government to strengthen the sector, he requested the committee to play a pivotal role in advising the government on the initiatives that can help consolidate Hyderabad's leadership position in life sciences.
The members brainstormed and deliberated on different areas such as industry-academia collaboration, strengthening public health infrastructure, development of Genome Valley with focus on innovation, funding to start-ups, skill development, pharma services driven ecosystem, diagnostics and digital medicine.