HYDERABAD: The Biotech CEO Summit started here today.

Hosted by BioSpectrum, a biotechnology trade magazine from the CyberMedia group, the summit has The Strategy to achieve $ five billion revenue target by 2010" as its theme.

The one-day summit witnessed participation from more than 50 CEO's from various biotech companies spanning across India.

Delivering the keynote address, Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of State holding independent charge of Science & Technology and Ocean Development said, “Indian Biotech industry is in its course of maturity. I believe providing government support, be it in the form of grants, funding, etc, is not a favor but commitment. There exists tremendous potential, be it in clinical trials, BioAgri, BioIndustrial services, BioInformatics, Pharma, etc. However, there are some concerns the industry is facing, and we are trying to put in place a system addressing various issues.”

In his inaugural address, Pradeep Gupta, managing director, CyberMedia group said, “Biotechnology, as we all know, is a growing industry and we expect that it will have similar success to that of Information Technology. The entire objective of this summit is to facilitate a roadmap to the industry to achieve revenues of $5 billion and much more.”

Giving an insight into the industry's growth, N Suresh, editor, BioSpectrum said, “When we first carried out the Biotech industry survey in 2003, it was a $400 million industry with presence of around 124 companies. Now, revenues crossed $1 billion and possess 225 strong players.”

According to BioSpectrum, the government is expected to formulate efficient regulatory systems, harmonize international standards, offer financial support to early Biotech start-ups to achieve the $5 billion mark. The industry has to extend collaborations and alliances, create healthy competition, and sell the Indian Biotech story to the outside world to achieve this aim.

This apart, the Indian Bayh-Dole Act has to be furthered to spur innovation, and also create awareness campaigns.