M/s Yashraj Biotechnology Limited, Mumbai

Name of the company: M/s Yashraj Biotechnology Limited, Mumbai

Project: Development & commercialization of products and services derived through Pluripotent stem cell technology for disease modelling biomarker discovery and drug toxicity testing

Agreement: 26th February 2020

Technology Development Board (TDB) entered into a Loan Agreement with M/s Yashraj Biotechnology Limited, Mumbai on 26th February 2020, to provide financial assistance of Rs. 2000.00 lakh, out of the total project cost of Rs. 4615.36 lakh for project “Development & commercialization of products and services derived through Pluripotent stem cell technology for disease modelling biomarker discovery and drug toxicity testing”.

The company, with this assistance, aims to establish infrastructure and facilities for the development of stem cells, derivatives of stem cells, purified protein antigens and growth factors. These will be used for preclinical drug discovery, diagnostics and therapeutics. This will lead to the development of disease and lineage specific cellular derivatives from cancer tissue, somatic or stem cells of patients from India. These will be used for the in vitro disease modelling of cancer, which will bring in vast information regarding progression of this disease in the Indian population.

In addition, the company will also develop a bio-bank of clinical samples from patients with breast cancer, which is the most prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality in Indian women and across globe. Further, the facilities will be used for high-throughput drug screening and toxicological testing as well. The drug screening will lead to identification of new and alternate drugs for cancer. The toxicological testing will help in predicting therapeutic response and side-effect of a given drug in patients. This information will help in making it possible to personalize treatment for each patient based on the likely course of their disease.