BioSpectrum Biotech Industry Awards declared

BANGALORE, INDIA: BioSpectrum, the leading life sciences publication from CyberMedia group, today announced the 2008 BioSpectrum Biotech Industry Awards.

Prof. G. Padmanaban, NASI--Platinum Jubilee Chair, IISc, Bangalore has been selected for the Life Time Achievement Award while Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR would receive the Biotech Person of the Year award.

This was announced here today by Narayanan Suresh, Group Editor, BioSpectrum, which is being published from India and Singapore. The awards are being presented at a gala function in Bangalore today evening.

This is the 6th year that Biotech industry awards are being given by BioSpectrum.

Both the winners, Prof. Padmanaban and Prof. Bramhachari, are IISc alma mater, who taught and did seminal research in anti malarial drugs and Genomics field respectively. Prof. Padmanaban rose to be Director of IISc and Prof. Bramhachari, as Director General, CSIR is truly the Chief Scientific Officer of the country.

The recognition for Prof. G Padmanaban, a pioneer in Indian biotechnology and Winner of Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, acknowledges his selfless and tireless commitment to the biotech industry and biotech research in India, said release from BioSpectrum. He is instrumental in bringing recombinant technology and gene cloning to India.

Prof Bramhachari is passionate about Indian Science and its future and is poised to take India on to the global map with his efforts in the Open Source Drug Discovery Project and the Indian Genome Variation Consortium.

The awardees were selected by a jury headed by Mr. Varaprasad Reddy, Managing Director, Shantha Biotech, Hyderabad and comprising prominent industry leaders like Prof. Vijay Chandru (Strand Life Sciences), Dr Shrikumar Suryanarayan (ABLE) and Tapan Ray (OPPI).

Ms. Anuradha Acharya, CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions, a Hyderabad-based BioInformatics Solutions firm was named 'The Entrepreneur of the Year'.

Two products bagged the BioProduct of the Year award. Reditux, a biosimilar product from Hyderabad based Dr. Reddy's Laboratories is used in cancer therapy.

Xcyto Screen Macro Chips from Bangalore-based molecular diagnostics company XCyton Diagnostics are a set of new diagnostic tools for detection of a variety of eye infections and early stage cancer. Both products fulfill an important societal need making treatment more affordable.