New Discovery Track for Startups and MSMEs with Financial Assistance Upto ₹50 Cr Under PRIP Scheme Announced

Key Highlights:

• A new Discovery Track has been announced under the Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma & MedTech (PRIP) Scheme for startups and MSMEs.
• This track offers financial assistance of up to ₹50 crore per company/project for high-risk innovation in new drug discovery.
• Eligible projects must have a minimum co-funding of 25% from institutional investors.
• The scheme targets New Chemical Entities (NCEs) and New Biological Entities (NBEs) at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1, 2, or 3.
• The overall PRIP Scheme has a financial outlay of ₹5,000 crore to strengthen India's pharmaceutical and MedTech R&D ecosystem.
• The second call for applications under PRIP is open, inviting proposals across three priority areas including new medicines and novel medical devices.

Detailed Insights:

• The new track aims to address a critical funding gap in early-stage novel drug discovery within the pharmaceutical sector.
• It acts as large-scale risk capital, encouraging institutional investors to participate earlier in drug development.
• This initiative is designed to foster indigenous drug innovation, moving assets from discovery to clinical development.
• The PRIP Scheme also includes Early Stage and Later Stage tracks with varying financial assistance and TRL requirements.
• The Early Stage track provides up to ₹5 crore for projects progressing from TRL 1-3 to TRL 5.
• The Later Stage track offers up to ₹100 crore (max 35% of project cost) for projects at TRL 4-6 moving to higher levels.
• Under the first call of the PRIP Scheme, 41 projects have already received approximately ₹1,600 crore in financial assistance.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma & MedTech (PRIP) Scheme: A government initiative to boost R&D in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors.
• New Chemical Entities (NCEs): Molecules that have not been previously approved for human use as a drug.
• New Biological Entities (NBEs): Biologically derived substances, such as proteins or antibodies, used as drugs.
• Technology Readiness Levels (TRL): A scale from 1 to 9 used to assess the maturity of a particular technology.